Bathing in Japan

What I really need to do is go through all the pictures that I took while I was living in Japan, scan them, and blog them. I haven’t gotten to that yet, and it will be several months before I do as it takes more time than I have on my hands right now.

However, a few years back, when I was feeling homesick for Japan, I came across this apartment page for foreigners. As some of you may know, most homes in Japan have Japanese style bathrooms where there’s a separate room just for the toilet and another room where you take a shower. The shower head is found – not over the bathtub – but over the floor that has a drain.

Here’s an example:

Shower:

See the little plastic chair? Many Japanese people enjoy taking parts of their shower sitting down. (I’m telling you – these people know how to relax!)

Bathtub:

Look how deep those things are! They are so deep, that you don’t need to lay down in them. You can sit up Indian style, drinking hot sake and the water will cover you up to your neck. I can’t begin to tell you how relaxing this is.

Traditionally, Japanese people will clean their bodies in the shower area first, and then slip into a nice hot bath with their Japanese Hot Spring Bath Salts which are (in my opinion) the best bath salts ever created next to the German Kneipp Herbal Bath Salts (They rock my socks and make me realize that Heaven does exist on earth).

Traditionally, the Japanese spend quite some time in the bathroom, but nowadays with the younger generation of Japanese, you’ll find a lot of them just taking a quick shower and getting out of there. Things are changing over there, but you’ll still find Ma and Pop, Grandma and Grandpa doing it the Japanese way!

Please refer to this website for the complete viewing.

The above set up can be found in most homes in Japan. Not the same tiling or colors, but that’s the basic gist of it. However, Japanese apartments are quite different. Japanese apartments are made to be small, so there’s no room for the traditional huge bathroom (or shower room). Instead, you’ll find apartment bathrooms to be westernized (for the most part). The toilet, shower, and bathtub will all be together in one very small room. It was never too small for me, though. And here again, the bathtub is STILL deep. Let’s take a look!

And a close up view of the sink and shower:

(Pictures courtesy of Yamasa.Org.)

The shower I had was exactly the same except that the tub was on the right instead of the left. And in the picture above, you’ll see the deep tub.

Now, in Japanese homes, traditionally, Mom will clean the tub out every morning. She will fill it up in the afternoon or evening with Japanese bath salts and then she’ll put a lid over the tub to keep the water hot. When Dad comes home from work, he’ll use the water. Following that the children will use the same water and then Mom will go last. Please correct me if I have the order wrong. What I’m 100% sure about is that Dad always goes first!

You’re probably thinking “yuk”… “How could they all use the same water?” “Groooooossssss!”. Unless Poppy comes home drunk and his bowels leek in the tub, there’s nothing gross about this at all. Remember what I mentioned above. There’s a strict tradition in Japan where you MUST shower yourself completely clean before entering the bathtub. MUST. So, given that all the family members are clean when they are getting into the bathtub, it’s a safe bet that you’ll climb out of the tub just as clean.

Japanese do not bathe in the bathtub. That is taboo. And if you think about it, it’s not practical. You get into the tub, lather with soap, rinse off your soap in the same tub your dirt has fallen off in and jump out. The Japanese think Americans are dirty for that. And well… we are. You just simply cannot call Americans “clean” after bathing in a tub. Talk about gross…

There are some un-internationalized and culturally retarded Americans who believe that non-Americans are not clean people. This is a fallacy. I’ve never in my life lived with and known a more hygienically-anal and meticulously clean bunch of people than the Japanese. I’ve heard that German people are similar – if not worse. But this is a good thing unless it’s taken to a neurotic level.

The same rules for bathing are enforced (if not – even more strictly) at Japanese public baths otherwise known as “Sentos”.

You can find a nice close up here if you click the image below:

Picture from John Kyoto or.jp

Here’s a close up of the shower area taken from Japanvisitor.com.

You can choose to either sit on a mat or a plastic chair. Old, old traditional Japanese men and women would use the buckets that you see above to get their bodies wet and to wash the soap off them. But the shower function is available for those who find it easier. I don’t think you have to be a genius to guess which method I preferred to bathe myself.

If those old ladies in the public bath house see you even thinking of getting into the bath without showering first, you’re dead. Particularily, they watch the foreigners. You think Americans are germaphobes until you’ve lived in Japan. It’s all clean. It’s all safe. I promise.

More information on Sentos can be found here.

A sento (銭湯, せんとう) is a Japanese communal bath house. Typically these bath houses are quite utilitarian, with one large room separating the sexes by a tall barrier, a line of showers along one wall and a single large bath for the already washed bathers to sit in along the other. Since the 1980s these communal bath houses have been decreasing in numbers as more and more Japanese bathe at home, and some Japanese are concerned that without the skinship of mutual nakedness, children will not be properly socialized. An special form of the sento is an onsen, which is a sento using water from a natural hot spring.

And more comprehensive information can be found here.

Most Americans are sexually repressed and are afraid of not only their own nude body, but those of others as well (hence the existing rioting over breast-feeding in public). For this reason, you won’t find too many Americans hanging out in public baths or Hot Springs. Some Europeans and those from other countries (you know, the heathen-liberal – non-born again Christian types) will, without thinking twice, subscribe to this Japanese tradition and love every minute of it.

In case you’re like me and want to visit another country (or live there), go to Japan and enjoy taking a bath.