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Japan - Housing

Japanese houses are much smaller than Australian houses, because there is so little land. Walls are often made from rice paper and slide open, to make a larger room.

Here are some house customs:

Shoes In Japanese housing, there is an area for removing shoes before stepping up into the main entrance. Japanese people sit on the floor and sleep on a futon on the tatami , the Japanese traditional floor mat, so stepping on them with your shoes on is not allowed. If you enter a room wearing shoes and dirt on the mats, you might have to pay repair costs. Bathroom In Japan bathing is not only washing the body but also a chance to relax while soaking in the bathtub. Recently bathrooms consisting of a Western-style bath with toilets have become popular, but the Japanese traditional bathroom is separated from the toilet and has a space to wash the body outside the bathtub. Bathtubs are mainly made of plastic or stainless steel. If you live with a Japanese family, you must keep the water in the bathtub as clean as possible because the rest of the family will take turns to use the water after you. Do not use soap in a Japanese-style bathtub. T atami mats Tatami mats are a traditional floor covering of straw sewn to make a mat about 5.5 cm thick and bound by woven rush. One tatami jo is also the unit used to indicate the size of a room. A new tatami is green and they are changed every few years or whenever moving house. Futon (thick bed quilt), bed and oshiire (closet) In a Japanese house, generally the futon is rolled out every night and folded away in the oshiire . In this way, a single room can be used for various purposes. If a bed is placed on the tatami mats, they are dented and damaged, so it is recommended to put boards under the legs of the bed. Toilet The Japanese-style toilet has a cover (dome) at the front. When the toilet is shared with other tenants, separate toilet slippers should be used.   Fusuma and shoji These are unique Japanese sliding doors to separate rooms. A fusuma is a wooden frame with fusuma paper pasted on both sides. A shoji is a latticed wooden frame with shoji paper windows. It is possible to make a room bigger by removing fusuma to connect the rooms. Fusuma pasting should be done by a specialist but when shoji paper is torn, you can buy shoji paper and repair it yourself. Fusuma Shoji Air conditioning/heating Some housing has air conditioning/heating but in most cases, tenants have to buy their own. Fuel for heating includes electricity, gas, and kerosene. Sometimes the use of kerosene is prohibited. air-conditioning Other Pictures Tokonoma (small space in the room Butsudan (Altar for ancestor) Ishi-Doro (Japanese garden's decoration) Hamaya (talisman)

	An open cupboard showing a kimono
	A bedroom
	The main living room area with a big tv
	The livingroom
	A view from the livingroom
	The front gate
	The front wall
	The front - close to the street
	The main entry
	Country House
	Apartments
	Apartments
	Luxury Apartments