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11-03-2010, 10:47 PM
This post started in another thread, but I moved it here as it started a completely new discussion. - Nyororin
You know-- I thought there was another thread discussing the food in Japan. Now let me ask what is a typical japanese kitchen like compared to British. do they have a stove and oven. I was told that they cook over a fire in the middle of the room. I am sure someone here can clarify this-- Also of course there is the sleeping and bathing arrangements which I believe are unique to Japan. having to wash in a sink before stepping into a bath-- which would be used by most of the family so the water needs to remain clean? sleeping on futons? the sliding panels that can be moved to enlarge or change a rooms lay out? 
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11-04-2010, 12:55 AM
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Modern kitchens are the norm, and newer buildings generally have something along these lines;  Some a bit simpler / smaller, or larger / nicer depending on space and taste. Open counters in front of the sink and preparation area beside it are popular so that you can face your family while cooking instead of a wall or window. Every has a stove, but western style ovens tend to be rare - passed up in favor of smaller fish broilers. Baking is usually done in a smaller combination microwave and oven. Quote:
 The entire room is water proofed. You shower first, then get into the hot bath. Your dirt is washed away by the shower first so that it doesn`t stick to you again while you`re in the bath. Sitting in soapy water with the dirt that you scrubbed from your body floating around you is pretty unappealing when you think about it. Quote:
Futons are still more common, but are slowly losing to beds as modern houses have dedicated bedrooms. Even more true when it comes to sliding panels. Newer houses are lucky to have a Japanese style room at all, let alone many of them connected. As people tend to build new houses instead of buying older houses, it doesn`t take long for lifestyles to shift. Every generation usually builds a new house, modern to the times.
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11-04-2010, 01:13 AM
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I heard that in a family, the father will bath first, then the mother, then the children in order of age. Using the same bathwater? Is this true? If so, is it still done?
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11-04-2010, 01:31 AM
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In my observance of real life though, dad is usually the LAST person to get in the bath because he`s the latest to get home in the evening. School age children need to be washed and in bed a lot earlier than the adults so they tend to take priority. A realistic bath pattern would be mom and youngest child / young children in together ("young" can be anywhere up to late elementary school aged), older children if there are any, then dad later when he comes home. On weekends the kids may bathe with their father instead of mother. The same bathwater thing is completely true. Japanese baths are very deep and use a huge amount of water. Water and the energy used to heat the water is not cheap, so running a new bath for each person is close to unthinkable. The bath water itself stays quite clean - no soap or dirt floating around in it - so there really isn`t any sort of nastiness associated with using the same water as there would be with using the same soapy water in a western bath. And after the bath, it`s pretty common to use the water for the wash cycle when doing laundry. Most washing machines have a built in suction pump and hose that you just stretch over and stick in the tub.
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11-04-2010, 02:26 AM
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11-04-2010, 03:43 AM
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11-04-2010, 06:24 AM
I'll share some of my experience on this one. I'll back it up with the fact that I live in an apartment in the inaka, I've been to friends' apartments, I've been to traditional style houses, I've been to older houses, I've been to newer houses, and I've done a healthy amount of "house shopping" which included looking at a butload of model homes and going to like "house fairs".
MMM, I've seen what you are talking about before... the only time I've seen one was in a city in Mie-ken. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of apartments in cities have bathrooms like that though. As far as my set up goes, It's pretty comfortable in size anddoesn't differ too much from an older style house in size and layout. Other apartments in this area are quite similar. As for bathrooms in houses, I've noticed a kind of "public restroom" feel to a lot of bathrooms here. Where you'll multiple stalls in one "bathroom". This is of course separate from the actual bath, shower, and sink (like where you'd shave and brush your teeth). For updated houses, I've seen quite big sink areas and a nice & big shower next to a big bathtub. I've noticed a lot of new bath setups have built in TV's and heaters and all that good stuff. As far as kitchens go, they vary a lot. In the smallest apartments, I'd imagine they don't even have a kitchen... but I've never seen that. In the small apartments I've been to, the kitchen was literally in the entry hall way. I can't imagine how HARD that would be to work with. Personally, I think paying the extra rent for a kitchen would pay for itself considering you'd be able to do your own cooking instead of eating out every night (which is what a kitchen in a hallway ultimately results in). In my apartment, it looks pretty much exactly as Nyororin's picture (except with a washing machine and a wall on the opposite side of it making it extremely narrow). Most houses I've been to have a very similar setup. However, in newer houses, I've seen a trend in facing the kitchen kind of towards the living area as opposed to away from it. I've mostly seen it in model houses though and have only seen it once in an actual house. (when facing the living area there is usually like a bar protruding out from the stove top to allow people to sit and face the cook). As far as futons vs. beds go... in this area I find that most people have beds for their bedrooms and they have futons for their guest rooms. To be quite honest, hearing the word futon in English reminds me of "cots" and the like. The real-deal Japanese futon is quite comfortable on tatami (not that I've used one not on tatami). I'd say it beats sleeping in most beds I've slept in. And Nyororin, I didn't know about the bath water being recycled for wash cycles in washing machines... that's pretty neat.
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11-04-2010, 07:06 AM
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Most of my friends back in university lived in tiny one rooms, and I assure you that when staying over no one washed in the tub. Everyone would use a big washing bowl perched on the toilet to wash with, then a quick rinse of with the shower before getting into the bath. I`ve even been in a few that have a sort of secret panel that lets you pop the sink itself out from the wall so that it wedges over the toilet next to it and a (tiny) washing area appears. It took one of my friends 2 years to realize her unit did this, and that the drain was hidden in an impression behind. If there is a bath and not shower stall, then it is made with bathing in mind. I have yet to see any that just have the stall in normal apartments - they`re usually in workplaces. Quote:
-------- I just want to add something - I think that houses/long-term homes need to be looked at differently than one-room apartments and other short term living arrangements. Studio apartments tend to be more like a step up from a dorm - they`re not designed to be lived in long term, and are designed for price, efficiency, and to fit as many units as possible into a building. For most people they`re a temporary arrangement. I remember reading that the average turnover for one room studios was 3 years. Students tend to live in them for the 4 years of university then move - they tend to be the longest staying residents. Working residents tend to move after 2 years or even less. I had a friend attending university in the US, living in a building with 4 coin operated showers in the hallway, and the toilet in their room was in the closet hidden by a curtain. It was a temporary arrangement, and I would never think of using it as an example of normal US lifestyle - just as I would never think of using the short term accommodations in Japan as an example of normal lifestyle.
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11-04-2010, 07:42 AM
I'm going to address some of your questions head on here, dogsbody70.
"do they have a stove and oven." Coincidentally, I just bought an oven last night... I don't know how ovens work in Britain, but "ovens" in Japan are quite different from what I know an "oven" to be in America. For starters, most cheaper "ovens" in Japan seem to be glorified steamers. Sometimes they have oven-like capabilities as well. Expensive models will be a microwave-oven with a steamer built in. It was quite confusing to get my head around this. In America at least, you'll see those like red-hot wire things on the top and bottom of the ovens... but in Japan those are literally non-existant (as far as new models go... although I've never seen an older looking oven here). was told that those are like built-in. This is to allow the user to clean the oven easier. Oven sizes are also extremely smaller in Japan than in America (I imagine Britain has big oven sizes like America). I think Japanese ovens are like big sized microwaves most of the time. I'll let you know how mine works in a month or so... hopefull I'll be happy with it. The "Stove" in my experience (in an apartment) is like a separate unit with a couple of spaces for pots on top and a small grill tray that slides in and out of underneath the stove top. That seems pretty common in older houses as well. In most newer houses that I've seen there are built in stove tops though. "IH" is becoming more and more popular from what I can tell for stove tops. (Induction cooker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) I was told that they cook over a fire in the middle of the room. I am sure someone here can clarify this-- I think you might be thinking of what I think is called an "irori" (Irori - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) [check out the Japanese page for more pictures]. I've seen many of those around here. People with older houses or people who live in temples usually have those. There is a similar arrangment for tea-rooms as well. Most of the ones I've seen might be very specific to the area I live, but I'll explain what they are anyways. It's basically a square cut-out in a tatami room in which you can put charcoal (like things) in. This helps to keep warm as well as cook things. Usually there is a BIG chain that hangs down from the ceiling that holds a giant chunk of wood for balance. There are usually a hook on either side of the chunk of wood to hold stuff. 100% of the time i've seen them, there is a big tea pot connected to it. Another thing you can use the "irori" for is to cook fish on. Specifically, I've seen fish called "Ayu" cooked this way around here. I don't know how often people cook Ayu this way in Iroris in traditional houses though. (Ayu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) [check out how the fish are being grilled for an idea of what I mean]. Something else that I think you'd be interested is "Nabe" (which I guess you could pronounce naw-bay) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabemono). Most of the time I've had nabe, people will take out a little portable one unit gas stove and put a pot (which is the actual nabe) on it. I mostly see "donabe" (which is like earthenwear I guess?). If you've read the wikipedia article (and done some other research... maybe you can find some stuff on youtube) you'll see that eating nabe becomes a group activity. Along similar lines, having an electric grill becomes handy in Japanese cooking as well. These are used for things like "okonomiyaki" and "yakiniku" etc. Those are also group oriented styles of cooking/eating. I think this food talk ties into the "style of living" quite a bit because it explains certain things such as a lack of what you or I would think of as a "proper" oven. It has become pretty cold around here recently, so I'll be taking out my "kotatsu" soon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu). My wife and I can both sit under it and eat nabe for dinner or watch movies or whatever. Then, in the late spring I can put it away and transform my apartment back into summer-mode... during which my nabe probably wont see the light of day. That is one of the more practical sides of the "seasons" that you'll hear a lot of Japanese people talking about.
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