Bath and Toilet Areas

Today I`d like to introduce the bath and toilet areas of "Our House".

In most homes in Japan the bath, toilet, and sink are separate rooms. I say "most" because "all" is too encompassing. Some homes are made the "western" way with the three facilities in the same room. Many of the smaller studio apartments have what is called "unit baths" which have all three facilities in the same room. For the most part, however, they are separate, in the same vicinity, but separate.

Our House

Let me invite you on a tour of our house.

Today I`d like to show you the entrance way, genkan in Japanese. Wait! Wait! Please take your shoes off and change into the slippers there on the step up. Thank you. Please, never never try to go into a Japanese home with your shoes on. BIG NO NO!

On the right you can see a big shoe cabinet. We store all our shoes here in the genkan. Above the shoe cabinet is a display I made from vines I took from the forest behind the house. The things I display change from season to season. At Christmas, it even becomes a Christmas scene.

On the right side is another shoe cabinet. Like I said, all the shoes go here so we needed two cabinets. This one on the right side is handmade by my very talented husband. He did the carpentry and I did the finishing. I think it turned out pretty nice, but then I AM prejudiced.

Next time I` ll show you another area.

See you later!