MY JAPANESE APARTMENT: A BATH ON MY BALCONY

My apartment is pretty old by Japanese standards (but not by New Zealand standards). Changes in Japanese lifestyle show clearly in the design. For example my shower and bath are on the balcony! This is because when my apartment was built, there was NO bathroom! Until about two years ago there was a sento (a bath house) at the bottom of the hill, where people could go to soak in a large communal bath. I often saw elderly people wandering along the street with their buckets full of bathing equipment. It seemed very strange and inconvenient to me, but on reflection I can see that from  economic, ecological and community standpoints, the sento was a much better idea than every house and apartment having their own private bathroom. Sadly the beautiful old sento was demolished and now generic suburban houses stand on the site. The area has lost both character and a piece of history.

The mini-bath

Getting back to my balcony bathroom, although it was added on like an after-thought, it's not as bad as it sounds. In fact, it's not so much on the balcony, as a small room off the balcony. It has an excellent shower and a very small bath. Although I can't stretch out in the bath, it uses less water and it's deep, up to my neck if I fill it right up. Maybe I even prefer it to the larger baths I was used to in New Zealand. In Japan most people still take baths daily, in the evening. I like this custom - a bath is a good way to warm up, and relax after a busy day.

Sometimes in winter it seems intolerable that I must go out of my nice warm apartment in order to enter my freezing cold bathroom, but the hot water always warms me up again. In warm weather I can sit in the mini bath with the door open (privacy isn't a problem) and listen to birds singing in my neighbor's garden. I always leave the door open after using the bathroom, so mould is never problem, although I do have to check before entering in summer, because centipedes, spiders, beetles and even lizards seem to find it an attractive place.