Bathroom Breaks: A Cultural Difference

As Westerners we take some of life’s basic creature comforts for granted. So far just about every possible thing we could want we have found to make our lives just a little more comfortable. Whenever taking a trip back home we just expect curtain things, like bathrooms, to be basically like the ones you have at home. Before moving here I read as much about the Japanese culture as I could to get to know my new country. One of the things I had learned about was the bathroom situation. But I hadn’t encountered a traditional bathroom here until this weekend.

A lovely diagram on how to use this cammode. You're welcome.

 Everywhere we’ve gone in the last few months has had a western bathroom. But this week when we went to a light display at a local park, I was once again reminded we aren’t in Kansas anymore.  After an hour drive though heavy traffic Little Man had a bathroom emergency. We parked and he and I jogged over to the public restroom, opened the stall and met our fate. If you don’t know what a normal bathroom in Japan might look like, instead of a toilet, there is what looks like an in-ground urinal that has no place for sitting. Up until that moment almost all of the bathrooms have high-tech, heated seats. Not this one. It was a porcelain hole in the ground.

We both looked at it and started figuring out logistics. It was small and open to the cold air. Trying to fit us both in there without losing a show was a challenge. But we figured it out without falling in. You know something else that you don’t see in a lot of public bathrooms? A means for drying your hands. I keep forgetting this fact and never remember to pack a towel. So as this very sweet looking elderly Japanese woman gently dries her wet hands on her very own wash cloth, Little Man and I were rubbing ours on our jeans.

 

The night went smoothly after that. Baby Girl stayed bundled up in her stroller, wrapped in her pink fur and blanket. Little Man ran and danced the whole way through. The tears were minimal and the lights were beautiful. There was a band playing American Christmas classics and lots of couples walking through the trees enjoying the romantic atmosphere (Christmas here is a time for couples, like Valentine’s back home).

 

There are little things like the bathroom that remind me we’re not at home. But there are so many other, wonderful things that make me love it here. I feel pretty lucky to get the chance to learn about and live among a culture that can be so different from ours and to do so with my little family.

But I really must start remembering a hand towel.