Learning Japanese Tradition February 8, 2008
I’ve learned a lot in the past four days about Japan and its customs and traditions. These traditions are in place to make society a better place to live, and for the most part I agree with them, though I am certainly not used to them. I will go through some of the ones I find more interesting here, granted they’re only interesting to me because of the strange culture in which *I* live — the US!
Shoes. Of course we all have heard that you do not wear your shoes in a Japanese house or restaurant (or perhaps any establishment?). But what I didn’t know is that they provide communal slippers in many places, restaurants especially, so that you aren’t wandering around sock footed. Part of the reason for not wearing shoes indoors is because if you’re sitting on the floor, you wouldn’t want to sit in a muddy/grassy/wet/dirty footprint, right? So there are communal slippers. And you put them on at the door and leave your shoes. If you do end up sitting on the floor, like in a restaurant, you take off the slippers and place them beside you. Put them back on when you get up! And if you go to the restroom (the toilet!) you will be putting on special toilet slippers, leaving the room slippers outside. Do not wear the toilet slippers out of the toilet. This is a major faux pas, almost as bad as…
Nose blowing in public. Is a no-no. A major no-no. Sniff all you want, but God help the person who blows his nose in public! I actually like this because there are too many people who are just not polite when they blow their nose.
Bath. The toilet is not located in the same room with the bath tub because this would be gross. I can get on board with this; it’s even appearing in more and more American homes. Cool. Taking a bath, however, is very different than I am used to. You sit on the side of the tub, on a chair, perhaps, and soap yourself down and wash all of the soap off. You’re clean (although I don’t see how you’re clean, really, without a full, long shower). Now that you’re clean and have rinsed all the soap, you can get into the warm tub water and soak. It is soothing. You get out and dry off. The next person (usually a family member) will do the same, using the same bath water once he is clean, too. I think this is originally to save money on heat or water, but you were clean when you got into the tub, so it is presumably still clean water. Maybe not quite as warm any more.
Ryokan. A ryokan is like a hotel, except that it’s more like a B&B, and to get into the nicer ones (which aren’t necessarily more expensive) you need an invitation or introduction by a Japanese person familiar with the establishment. When you arrive, the hostess serves you tea. In the morning you are awoken (around 8, I believe) by the hostess, who serves you breakfast. In the evening, after dinner, the hostess rolls out your futon for sleeping. It’s very traditional. And unless you stay in a ryokan with a private bath, your hostess will schedule your bath time (keeping in mind the toilet is separate from the bath). But keeping in mind what I have said about the bath, above, you will be sharing the bath water with other guests (who you do not know and who may not be Japanese or understand Japanese tradition as well as you do). You should rinse all soap before entering the tub, but to me, you’re still sharing bath water with strangers. There’s something weird about that to me, no matter the “cleanliness” of the person preceeding you. It’s like a pool, except it’s not chlorinated, and what if the person failed to get clean… you can construe all sorts of other issues to go along with this, too!
I have learned so many other Japanese facts, a lot of how-to’s, in the past few days, and I will share more soon. They include things like: how to use the train, (re)filling your companion’s drink, eating at a sushi bar, attending sumo and kabuki, seeing Harajuku, buying electronics,… Look forward to these!
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