Toilet in Japan
When you travel to foreign countries, there are always something that are quite different from what you are familiar with.
My very first trip to outside Japan was to Washington state,USA, and it was about 20 years ago through home-stay program. I have experienced different kinds of food, different cultural stuff etc.., and I had so many great but different experience through the program.It was so much fun finding the cultural difference and learn the new things here in the states.
One of the things I found it very different from things I am familiar with was bathroom.
First, in Japan, every train station has bathroom, and you do not have to exit the station just to use the bathroom in the town.
Second, we have toilet slippers to wear to use the bathroom at home and school. Kindergarten to high school, bathroom in the school has their own toilet slippers ready for you to wear at the bathroom. So, when you go to bathroom in the building, you will take off your slippers and switch to the toilet slippers and use the bathroom.
As you may know, in Japan, you will take off your shoes inside the house. It applies to school as well,and students wear slippers inside the school.
Third, another difference is toilet manner. Here in the states, inside the house, you are suppose to leave the bathroom door open to let others know that the bathroom is available. In Japan, bathroom door should be closed when you are done, except when you use the public bathroom. You can tell if anyone is inside by looking at the door knob whether it has green/open mark on it.
Fourth, here in the states, when you go to bathroom, bathroom is combined with shower room. In Japan, they are separated.
Fifth, another difference is we have two kinds of style; Japanese style toilet or western style toilet. Japanese style toilet is the one that you would standing over and squat. Western toilet is just like the one you are familiar with, but more advanced.
Western style toilet cover opens when the toilet sensed your presence or in public western style toilet case, there are switch panel to press and you can touch the button and it opens up the cover.
Then, when you sit on the toilet and do your business, you can press the button marked with butt (Oshiri, in Japanese) picture and metal stick would comes out from under the seat and it starts watering like fountain and it will wash your butt nicely.
If you press the button with another spray water mark with lady on the button, it is called "Bidet", and it is for ladies to wash their area when they have period.
If you press button marked with air, you will feel the air comes out around your butt and dry your area.
The western style toilet also has faucet on top of the toilet itself and, you can wash your hands there and wipe your hands with towel.
Our family's toilet back in Japan is western style toilet and it has all kinds of buttons. Theirs has button for temperature of the water that comes out to wash your butt etc, and it also has pressure of the water, and also has temperature of toilet seat.
I remember the very first day I had to explain to my husband to-be at the time what button would do what kind of things and went over with him.
I came across Japanese toilet youtube video and you can see what the toilet is like. I noticed some people who have uploaded their video on Japanese western style toilet have no clue what the "Bidet" is, but like I stated above, it is for ladies to wash their area when they have period.
Japanese style toilet
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from face book,please click here to watch the video.
I saw one comment under the video above at youtube about what would do if the person who would use the toilet was senior citizens.
There are bars on the wall for them to support themselves. The stool door should be marked.
Also, we sit on floor a lot with knee bend (sei za);holding legs under the thighs and rest the butt on heels. So, for me, it is not difficult to squat much lower than the lady in the video. I found that my husband also cannot squat as lower as I can. It is funny to find interesting fact sometimes.
Western style Japanese toilet 1
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from face book,please click here to watch the video.
With the video above, one thing that was sort of correct, but sort of misunderstood by him is where he says "big flush,little flush". Japanese western style toilet has two kinds of buttons to flush. One is marked for "poop"; the one he pointed as "big flush", and the other button is marked for "pee";where he pointed as "little flush".
Japanese western style toilet 2
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from face book,please click here to watch the video.
Second video is probably common Japanese western style toilet you would find in Japanese house. The video was a little blur and I could not read the Chinese character when he pointed at the bubble button. If the video was much clearer, I could have being able to explain what it was for.
Since American toilet does not have temperature control for the toilet seat, if you sit on in cold month, it is not that comfortable. So, we bought a toilet seat cover in Japan and using it. If you ever visit Japan, toilet cover seat maybe something interested/useful for you to bring back.
Lastly, some public bathroom does not have toilet paper. So, if you visit Japan, make sure to keep the tissue paper in your purse all time. Also handkerchief. We usually carry handkerchief and wipe our hands with it,not with paper towel.
My very first trip to outside Japan was to Washington state,USA, and it was about 20 years ago through home-stay program. I have experienced different kinds of food, different cultural stuff etc.., and I had so many great but different experience through the program.It was so much fun finding the cultural difference and learn the new things here in the states.
One of the things I found it very different from things I am familiar with was bathroom.
First, in Japan, every train station has bathroom, and you do not have to exit the station just to use the bathroom in the town.
Second, we have toilet slippers to wear to use the bathroom at home and school. Kindergarten to high school, bathroom in the school has their own toilet slippers ready for you to wear at the bathroom. So, when you go to bathroom in the building, you will take off your slippers and switch to the toilet slippers and use the bathroom.
As you may know, in Japan, you will take off your shoes inside the house. It applies to school as well,and students wear slippers inside the school.
Third, another difference is toilet manner. Here in the states, inside the house, you are suppose to leave the bathroom door open to let others know that the bathroom is available. In Japan, bathroom door should be closed when you are done, except when you use the public bathroom. You can tell if anyone is inside by looking at the door knob whether it has green/open mark on it.
Fourth, here in the states, when you go to bathroom, bathroom is combined with shower room. In Japan, they are separated.
Fifth, another difference is we have two kinds of style; Japanese style toilet or western style toilet. Japanese style toilet is the one that you would standing over and squat. Western toilet is just like the one you are familiar with, but more advanced.
Western style toilet cover opens when the toilet sensed your presence or in public western style toilet case, there are switch panel to press and you can touch the button and it opens up the cover.
Then, when you sit on the toilet and do your business, you can press the button marked with butt (Oshiri, in Japanese) picture and metal stick would comes out from under the seat and it starts watering like fountain and it will wash your butt nicely.
If you press the button with another spray water mark with lady on the button, it is called "Bidet", and it is for ladies to wash their area when they have period.
If you press button marked with air, you will feel the air comes out around your butt and dry your area.
The western style toilet also has faucet on top of the toilet itself and, you can wash your hands there and wipe your hands with towel.
Our family's toilet back in Japan is western style toilet and it has all kinds of buttons. Theirs has button for temperature of the water that comes out to wash your butt etc, and it also has pressure of the water, and also has temperature of toilet seat.
I remember the very first day I had to explain to my husband to-be at the time what button would do what kind of things and went over with him.
I came across Japanese toilet youtube video and you can see what the toilet is like. I noticed some people who have uploaded their video on Japanese western style toilet have no clue what the "Bidet" is, but like I stated above, it is for ladies to wash their area when they have period.
Japanese style toilet
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from face book,please click here to watch the video.
I saw one comment under the video above at youtube about what would do if the person who would use the toilet was senior citizens.
There are bars on the wall for them to support themselves. The stool door should be marked.
Also, we sit on floor a lot with knee bend (sei za);holding legs under the thighs and rest the butt on heels. So, for me, it is not difficult to squat much lower than the lady in the video. I found that my husband also cannot squat as lower as I can. It is funny to find interesting fact sometimes.
Western style Japanese toilet 1
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from face book,please click here to watch the video.
With the video above, one thing that was sort of correct, but sort of misunderstood by him is where he says "big flush,little flush". Japanese western style toilet has two kinds of buttons to flush. One is marked for "poop"; the one he pointed as "big flush", and the other button is marked for "pee";where he pointed as "little flush".
Japanese western style toilet 2
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from face book,please click here to watch the video.
Second video is probably common Japanese western style toilet you would find in Japanese house. The video was a little blur and I could not read the Chinese character when he pointed at the bubble button. If the video was much clearer, I could have being able to explain what it was for.
Since American toilet does not have temperature control for the toilet seat, if you sit on in cold month, it is not that comfortable. So, we bought a toilet seat cover in Japan and using it. If you ever visit Japan, toilet cover seat maybe something interested/useful for you to bring back.
Lastly, some public bathroom does not have toilet paper. So, if you visit Japan, make sure to keep the tissue paper in your purse all time. Also handkerchief. We usually carry handkerchief and wipe our hands with it,not with paper towel.
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