Number 23

Japan Chronicles 23 (ni-ju-san)


It has been rather a boring week in terms of travel. The furthest we went was our Japanese class on Wednesday and we walked home from there. Dana needs to take the car to work or if I want it I need to take him and pick him up. It is about 45 minutes one way to his office so I don’t plan on doing that very often. I am sorry it has taken me so long to get this done. I have injured my back somehow and it is very painful to sit up for very long.

I signed up for a grocery delivery service. The prices are as good as the store and I don’t have to make that trip with three children. We will get our first delivery on Monday. This is my idea of shopping—from home!

We have been working hard on our schoolwork around here and I am trying to bring a little more order to our lives and therefore create a peaceful atmosphere. Okay, I’m delusional, but I’m trying. I signed up for this email list for Sidetracked Home Executives (SHE’s) and this mentor emails me my chores and encouragement throughout the day. I really like it and I think the apartment is looking better every day.

I was talking with someone the other day, and they were asking about how the Japanese organize their homes. After giving it some thought, I think this might be a fun topic that that I know I could use the clarity. I have some magazines that I bought here a couple of months ago on the very subject, so I thought I’d go through them and see what ideas I could come up with, along with the other neat things I have picked up a long the way. I also realize that not all Japanese homes look like the ones in magazines, but there are some legitimate space issues here and I have seen some creative ways of addressing them. By the way, wouldn’t it be nice if all American homes looked like the ones in the magazine of our choosing?

Someone had mentioned this idea of fung shei or however it’s spelt, but I thought that was more of a Chinese thing rather than a Japanese thing. If I am wrong, I am sure someone or several someone’s’ will email me the proof of my error, but I haven’t heard it mentioned here. So on to space saving and organizing. If your not interested, just hit the delete key. I won’t be offended and I probably won’t know! Let me mention a disclaimer, I don’t think I can be violating any copyright laws because I can’t read what is written, but I am ever so thankful for good pictures!

I think I will start off with a few features of a Japanese home that I have found very convenient. (They won’t be the kitchens!) If I can, I am going to include a few pictures otherwise; I will try to get them on the web site that I have been promising.

The entryway of the home is a different material than the rest of the floors. It is the one area in the house where outside shoes touch the floor. From what I understand, it is actually considered outside. This is where you remove your shoes on entering the house. Usually, there are slippers for guests to put on while they are in your home. One size fits none! :+) There is a cupboard to put the family’s shoes in right in this area. I have actually found this very helpful because we don’t have to go hunting for shoes if they don’t make it out of the entryway. Ideally, this area should be large enough to fit the entire family getting on the shoes at the same time to avoid the traffic jam. Ours is about 2’x2’. I like the idea of no shoes in the house ‘cause it saves dirt inside.

The way ceiling lighting fixtures are installed is rather convenient. You plug them in much like an electrical outlet and twist. All done! Most of them have three settings; the lowest is a nightlight and the others offer more light.
I have already mentioned the “bath” room in one of my first chronicles, but since the list of people receiving these, grows almost daily now, I think it is worth mentioning again. The “bath”room in Japan should not be confused with the room where the toilet is located. Our version of this is a little small, but I can see how enlarged to fit a western person it could be very nice. The bathroom is just that, a room with a bath. The bath is deep, so you can soak up to your shoulders. I’m going to take advantage of that with my back. However, the bath is not for bathing. There is a shower outside the tub and usually a little seat to sit on while you wash yourself. It is there, that you use soap, shave and get yourself clean. Once you are clean, you can soak in the tub. When you are finished soaking in the tub, you put the cover back on it for the next person. Practically speaking, we haven’t adopted whole idea, but the best part of this all is that there is a drain in the floor, outside the tub. When the kids are in the tub splashing around or spraying each other with the sprayer, the water is not going to damage the room, but simply flow out through the drain. This mother’s dream!

Outside of this bathroom is usually a sink, with hot water and the laundry area. I think it is particularly convenient to be able to undress right where the clothes are washed. It makes it more difficult for the children to miss the laundry basket if the room is really small too! Most people don’t have clothes dryers, but hang their laundry out to dry. After managing to rent a dryer here, I can understand why, the dryers are small and take about 2 hours to dry half a load of clothes.

The toilet is in a separate room and after you flush the toilet, water runs through a faucet on the lid into the tank so you can wash your hands. This saves water, but the drawback is that it is only cold water. One feature of this room that I think is cool is the toilet paper holder. No more trying to squeeze that little spindle into the whole and have it pop out. To insert a new roll of toilet paper, you simply slide it up from the bottom and the pieces that hold it in place flip into the center of the roll. I’m bringing a couple of these home to install in our house! No one has an excuse for not replacing the roll. They also have these little cute covers that go over them and hold an extra roll of toilet paper.
It is a strange balance between simplicity and hi-tech that is achieved in Japanese homes. On one hand, you have a tearoom with tatami mats, a table and a simple flower arrangement. On the other hand, is the HD TV with all the stereo equipment and the cute little things that they have accumulated. I don’t even pretend to understand how that balance is achieved.

Space is important here. Most homes are small by western standards, so space must be utilized efficiently. There are special plates for this and pans only used for certain dishes. Although, a western style bed is becoming more common, futons are still used and in most homes are stored in the closet during the day, so the room can be used for other purposes.

At this point, I have decided to save the storage ideas for next time. I want to have some more time to think about them and how best to share them. I will try not to make it so long before I get it done.

Blessings and prayers,
Marion