Cultural: The call of nature

Japanese toilets have a certain reputation in the West for being high-tech and sporting lots of buttons and a whole range of functions, from pre-warmed seats to blow-drying. But that's not the type you will find in your average station stall, the truth looks like this:

Japanese toilet

These are the classic Japanese toilets and you can find them pretty much everywhere. No technology, no seat. Found a site explaining the processes involved: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~AD8Y-HYS/movie.htm .
Basically, crouch down, do you business, don't fall down and look out for cramps in your calves.

Now, that being said, Western-style toilets are getting more and more popular and you can often see toilets with some separately labeled stalls. Due to this, you can experience the following phenomenon in department stores: There is a line in front of the Western-toilet, the Japanese ones are pretty much deserted. So sometimes it's better to just go with the local version.

Western-style toilet

Western-style is pretty much just a name, by the way, as about the only fact the average European toilet has in common with those here is the fact that you sit down to use them. As I said before, the seats are heated, you can have fountains if you want, you can have them play music, you can have yourself blow-dried and there are different flushing-programs. Of course there are "normal" ones as well, the form and functionality always depends on where you are at the moment.

Trail toilet

"normal" toilet

Another thing one should remember is the topic of paper: Many public toilets don't have it, so bring it. I am talking both toilet paper and paper for drying your hands here. For this, there are these vending machines, where you can buy two packets of tissues for 100yen. The use in public toilets and wiping your face of sweat is by the way pretty much the only use paper towels have in Japan, as cleaning your nose in public is considered rude. Also there are always some people in crowded areas handing out tissue packets with ads on them, it's a popular form of advertising.
Get some of these, just to be on the save side and avoiding unpleasant surprises.

So long and stay tuned,
JuergenS

written by

JuergenS on August 6, 2010 from Tokyo, Japan

from the travel blog: Two month of Japan

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