Bathrooms

We have now been in our apartment for a little over a week. We lived in the apartment for General Authorities who visit the mission for the first week we were here. It was a lovely king-sized bed, beautiful décor, a fairly large walk-in closet with drawers on one side so you didn’t have to live out of your suitcase, and a bathroom that I initially called small, but now I would call it adequate. It was an American-style bathroom, with sink and mirror, toilet, and shower/tub.

If I was doing a top ten list for Japan, I would have to list the people as number one. They are so mannerly, kind and welcoming. But number two would definitely be the heated toilet seats. Everywhere I went for the first week here, the toilet seats were nicely heated, and since its cold right now (it snowed lightly one day last week and again yesterday) those seats are so wonderful. I thought that would be something I could enjoy everywhere I went.

Our apartment bathroom is actually three rooms. Sounds luxurious, doesn’t it? There is the room with the toilet. It is very slightly larger than an airplane bathroom.

And check this out: The toilet has a little dip in the top of the tank where, when you flush the toilet, clean water starts running from a little tap. There is a soap dispenser there, so you can lean over the front of the toilet and wash your hands right there before you leave the room. The water is icy cold. The toilet seat is NOT heated. There is no heat that comes into that room. I'm sure this fact will not bother me in the least, come July.

Next we have the place where you brush your teeth and put on makeup. It is 63 centimeters wide--I measured it. In case you are wondering, that's barely over two feet wide (24.8 inches). See how nicely Lee fits into it.

It has a sink, and above the sink is a mirror with some tiny places to put a few items. Not enough room for my makeup. On the right side as you are facing the mirror is a very small washer/dryer stacked. Slid in at the side of the washer dryer is a book shelf with four

shelves. There are about four inches between the washer and the book shelf, so anything you want to put on it has to be smaller than that. I have put a little of my makeup there, but it’s not convenient. Did I mention—no heat source.

Last is the room for the shower/bathtub. The bathtub is about the width of one in the US, but it is about 2/3 the length. It is very deep. If one were to sit in it and one was any taller than 4’ 2”, one would be looking at their knees. The Oldroyds only used it when their grandchildren visited.

The entire little room is tiled. On the wall opposite the tub are some little places to put shampoo and soap. The shower head rotates to fill the tub or to be used as a shower if you stand outside the tub. If you extend your arms, you can touch opposite walls in any direction. No heat source (except the warm water). Water is heated as you need it. Hot water is "on demand," which in this apartment means, "turn it on and wait a while." When we first got here,

I wondered how one would stand in that room, turn on the ice cold water to wait for the heat to arrive, and NOT get wet. But we've got it figured out now. Here is Vanna White (40 years from now) demonstrating that one can sit on one end of the tub and rest her hand on the opposite side of the room.

Because the whole room is designed as a shower, you step down a little to go in. That’s so that water doesn’t run out into the hallway. Then, of course, one must step up to go out of the bathroom. In the mission home it was the same way. Lee and I both stumbled over that about three times before we decided to lay a white hand towel down over it. That caused us to notice the towel, and remember to step up coming out of the bathroom. No more bruises on our arms as we caught ourselves after a stumble.

Nagoya is very warm and humid in the summer. Mildew is a constant problem. Those of you who know my love for cleaning bathrooms will now feel sorry for me. (I’m hoping Lee will take pity and clean the mildew.) But the Oldroyds left it spotless, for which I am eternally grateful, and so we are off to a good start.