Ask a foreigner

[Rose White]

where the entire bathroom is waterproofed, instead of just the shower enclosure

Isn’t this a common type of bathroom in many homes in Japan?

 

[Friday]

Isn’t this a common type of bathroom in many homes in Japan?

Yes/no?

Japan differentiates between toilet rooms and bathrooms, and they’re nearly never found together in the same space. It’s as weird as finding a toilet in a kitchen or a bedroom in the west. It does happen, but it’s brain breaking weird. (Even in apartments that are small enough you can turn on the oven and answer he front door whilst sitting on the loo) there’s walls lining those spaces from each other.

Newer (WWII) apartments and homes have mostly western style toilet rooms (or none at all, and th3 toilets, as well as the baths, are down the hall, or on the ground floor, for everyone to use). But that’s all toilet rooms are. A dry room, with a toilet and mirror. Whether in the home, or elsewhere in the tower. (Laundry is dried on balconies. Like the UK, washing machines are usually found in the kitchen, and few apartments have dryers, although most homes do). The “sink”, in toilet rooms, is a feature of the toilet. You wash your hands in the water that fills the tank. The swan neck faucet is high, instead of inside the tank, and the lid of the tank is sink like, draining into the tank.

Both new & old homes the actual bath is found INSIDE the shower, rather than the other way around, the entire room is a wet room.

So you shower off first, using a handheld shower & stool & bucket; washing your hair, scrubbing the form/figure, rinse off… AND THEN… climb into the adjacent bath. Only after you’re clean.

In very very posh homes, they have three rooms. The toilet room (dry), the cleaning/showering room (wet), & the bathroom (dry-ish) as the floors are usually cedar, sometimes stone, you’re supposed to dry off before crossing them. Most people fudge that rule the same way most westerners don’t dry off in the tub/shower. Bath sheets are still kept by the corners/entrances/exits to be able to. Cedar doesn’t mind water much, & stone never does. It’s tatami that minds, and there isn’t tatami in bathing rooms.

 

[Rose White]

Ah! Makes sense, @Friday ! Thank you for that thorough description—I can see it in my mind and the wet room I saw pictured definitely did not have a toilet.

as weird as finding a toilet in a kitchen

My brother was in an old tiny apartment in Vienna. There was a toilet room with a pull chain flush and the shower and washing machine were in the kitchen. It wasn’t even a shower room, it was literally behind a curtain.

 

[Sideways]

Isn’t this a common type of bathroom in many homes in Japan?

It’s common in Indonesia.

One bathroom, with what is essentially a giant tub that holds a heap of water. Toileting and showering in the one room, with a scoop (a gayung) that you dip in the tub and use post toilet or to have a shower.

 

[Teasel]

People from anywhere, what mundane differences did you find interesting when visiting a foreign country?

I loved how public loos all had stretchy toilet paper in Poland. And bar staff / shop assistants are not friendly. Not because they aren't every bit as nice, but because it's not a thing culturally, to be friendly to customers like that. You just need to do your job. I loved how bars and restaurants are so much more beautifully decorated there.

 

[Givrali]

The shops

 

[Givrali]

But I like books more than traveling

 

[Rose White]

The old buildings in European cities. My sister-in-law said the thing she liked about America was the wide open spaces.

 

[Shaylee]

MIT, often cited as one of the world’s most prestigious universities, puts almost all of its course materials online for anyone to access for free.

MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials

MIT OpenCourseWare is a web based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity

ocw.mit.edu

Dear heavens, since 2001 I could have been playing around with this! I had no idea!

 

[Shaylee]

The Vatican had music that was forbidden to be copied and was only played twice a year. It was secret for almost 150 years until a 14-year-old music pirate named Mozart heard it and transcribed it from memory.

The 1st Known Case of Musical Piracy Was When Mozart Stole a Song From the Church | uCatholic

Heard exclusively in the Sistine Chapel for 150 years, the composition of 'Miserere mei, Deus' was secret until 14-year-old Mozart recreated it from memory.

ucatholic.com

Those damn teenagers I tell ya!

 

[Shaylee]

Well, I keep saying I can’t focus, I honestly thought the above posts i put into the fun facts thread ugh . Sorry!

 

[Teasel]

thought the above posts i put into the fun facts thread

Heehee no worries. If you wanted you could use the contact us link or report the posts and as for them to be moved.

Easy mistake eh, I know I've done it. ;)