Bath taking in Japan is not just washing off; rather it has many other qualities attached to it. Japanese word for a bathtub is-Ofuro. It plays a role in three different aspects of Japanese culture - the public Japanese bathhouse, the private home and onsen hot spring resorts. In each case, Japanese bath experience is much more than just washing off. Majority of Japanese people consider immersing in their bathtub at least once daily as a ritual, equally important as eating or sleeping. For them, bathing is must because they feel it is important to keep one healthy and happy.
Some Japanese people take bathing as a social activity. Some parents bathe with their children as they find it a basis to strengthen their bond.There are numerous differences between Japanese and Western baths. Japanese soaking tubs are much deeper than the Western tubs and the water within is also much hotter the Western tubs. Japanese bathtubs are installed in a large room with a changing area in one corner. There is never a toilet in a Japanese room where bathtub is installed. They find it extremely embarrassing and funny to have a toilet in a room where you wash, which is in contrast to Westerners who put toilet and bathtub in the same room.A tile floor and several tile walls generally surround Ofuro soaking tubs.A shower with an elastic hosepipe is usually fixed to one wall and there is always a wooden or a plastic stool to sit on in Japanese bathroom. Another important feature of a Japanese Ofuro room is a drain in the floor between the shower and the tub. This floor drain serves two purposes-first, as the Japanese people wash off at that shower before immersing in the tub, so the dirty water goes down into the floor drain.
Now because the tub water remains clean, a series of bathers can use the same water. For westerners this particular feature of serial bathers is filthy. The second purpose the drain solves is-Japanese can fill the tub to the brim because even if the water spills, it will go down the drain.Ofuro tubs come in variety of shapes and sizes, however the aforementioned concepts remain same for all the shapes and sizes and types. Two most famous categories of Japanese bath are-Sento public baths that can deal dozens of bathers together, and Onsen baths- these are naturalistic outdoor baths where water is heated by geothermal activity.
