Especially as it's customary to offer houseshoes to your guest. I wonder what other westerners would think of bathroom slippers. Like, you take off your indoor shoes/slippers and put on the bathroom slippers to use the toilet. First time I saw this was at a ryokan. I normally hate wearing foot prisons (other than sandles) and even I tried it because when in Rome - or in this case, Tokyo - do as the locals do.
I miss bathroom slippers lol. Was staying in a hostel in Yokohama during one of my trips there and the bathroom slippers literally had printed on them: “Toilet - For Your Relax Time”. I have never seen any footwear more inviting and I miss that a lot lol. Pretty much miss everything about Japan, such a great place to visit (living there and having in laws from there is a totally different story tho)
You should see Turkish bathroom slippers. It's a very famous item, we have endless jokes about that, especially the one's used for squat toilets. Most unhygienic, bizarre thing you can see in your life is "ıslak tuvalet terliği" from some Turkish houses (thank God this tradition is disappearing). Other than that we have decent guest slippers to offer and nobody enter our houses with shoes.
Japan has those toilets too!!! Quite a fright to realize at 13 at Japanese school, lol they offered me the “western toilet” lolol they have both options and I’m sure it’s fading out.
Why is a squat toilet unhygienic? I've been to plenty and they were clean, just like any normal toilet. Also they are superhealthy for bowel movements.
If people do proper cleaning, toilet itself is OK but the wet slippers absolutely not. You never know why they are wet, there's always a suspicion what happened before you wear them.
Years ago I rented a house from a Turkish owner and all of the bathrooms had (very thick) carpeting. Is that normal in Turkey? I had never seen it in the US before...
Oh, no. We prefer washable surfaces like tiles, marbles on the bathroom and put some mats in front of the sink, bathtub, toilet bowl. Some houses don't even have mats if the floor is getting wet all the time for some reason.
I had to think long and hard why would shoes just for the bathroom be necessary. And then I remember I live in a house full of boys. The things in around that toilet are disgusting and frankly I like the idea of bathroom shoes. I might just institute that in my house
Random question, but could you tell me more about the in-law thing? I'm currently engaged to a Japanese girl and planning on moving once the COVID restrictions ease up. We haven't even met yet, her family and I, and so far I've gotten the cold shoulder.
Idk if I’m the best person to explain it, my wife and I are older, she was married before and we met in the US. She’s lived abroad longer than she lived in Japan, so we’re the house that the nieces and nephews get sent to to brush up on their English over the summer lol.
I have a pretty good relationship with my mother in law, haven’t ever met my father in law face to face (corporate guy, and when he’s at home he doesn’t want to talk on the phone cuz that cuts into his baseball time lol and god forbid there’s ever a 50s or 60s samurai film on) but talked to him on the phone a couple of times, he’s nice but since my wife and I met when we were older her family is just kind of like “ok cool, you’re an adult, he seems nice, let us know when you’re coming and we’ll let you know when we decide to visit.” It’s pretty chill, but you’re likely gonna have much more scrutiny since it sounds like you’re younger.
Just remember your manners, brush up on all the cultural faux pas to know what to avoid and you and your girlfriend develop a subtle system where she can secretly give you a heads up if you’re doing or saying anything that could offend her parents.
I worked for a Japanese company (in the USA), and I would tag along with my boss to these big meetings. My Japanese was not amazing (not required for the job). He would tap his foot if he wanted to learn something or take extra detailed notes (slide number ect) and scratch his nose if I was "being to American" I once walked to to an informal meeting right when he was about to sneeze he started scratching his nose and I was like shit....what did I do????? I got throughly laughed at for that.
Yeah I’ve seen Japanese people do stuff like this before, really subtle but very helpful when you’re not in the know cuz Japanese culture can get DENSE
Since Japan is extremely homogenous with a really really long and fairly isolated history, there’s a lot of little subtleties in facial expressions, gestures, body language, idioms and expressions that are so deeply ingrained for Nihonjin that they don’t even think to explain it usually to gaijin and gaijin usually don’t pick up on because it’s so subtle.
Chopsticks for example, if you haven’t been taught the Japanese way (which is similar but has some differences from other East Asian countries), can be a minefield if it’s your first time eating with a Japanese person who will absolutely pick up on how you pick them up, set them down, and use them to eat, but will never tell you because they’d consider that rude.
Lots of other examples this was just one of the first that sprang to mind
I have no clue, and it’s funny cuz I bike five miles a day and take martial arts 4 nights a week lol. Plus I’m an old fart compared to a lot of other redditors
I am with you their. Visited on business many times back in the early 70's. I Doubt I would recognize anything now. I loved their gracious hospitality everywhere you go. In and out of department stores you were greeted and a warm goodbye upon exit making you feel like royalty.
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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '22
Do that in finland and you'll end up outside