Japanese houses compared to European ones

[neko_girl22]

Still, they lack all the comfort of European/Western houses, except for the air conditioning and heated toilet seat.

Dh and I want to move into the country. I love the older style houses in Japan, the only thing that puts me off would be that they all have boton (long drop) toilets. urrgh. That and the huge insects and snakes.....

[kov]

Dh and I want to move into the country. I love the older style houses in Japan, the only thing that puts me off would be that they all have boton (long drop) toilets. urrgh. That and the huge insects and snakes.....

I have 2 takes on this; my wife's family is from wa-a-a-ay out in the northern countryside. And man, it gets COLD there without central heating and the bath? All that tile/ceramic gets so bloody cold you don't want to stand on it for more than a second -- the whole bathing experience in winter is a test of character. The drop-toilet isn't too bad (of course, I've never had to empty one), but it was terrifying for my 3-year old. Also, my back gets pretty sore with the whole sitting on the floor thing, and I find I crave chairs and sofas after a week.

OTOH, wife's best friend is the town's shrinemaster, so she lives in an unspeakably beautiful (but simple) old, traditional house on the grounds of the shrine. They also kept their house comfortably warm, so perhaps it depends on the family's disposition towards shelling out for comfort.

[RockLee]

can anyone post some pictures of A japanese bathroom ? I'm dying to see how it looks...and how do the japanese people take a bath?..I've heard they soap themselves outside the bath...and when they are clean they go in....is this true?....thank a lot !!!