Hygiene. In Japan great emphasis is placed on cleanliness and hygiene. It’s evident everywhere and is infused in the culture and psyche of the Japanese. In the public bathouses and the onsen, bathers lather up and scrub their skin interminably before joining their fellow bathers in the pools. On the streets, cold and allergy sufferers don disposable surgical masks in consideration of those around them. Restaurants provide diners with hot or chilled oshibori hand towels – even cheap food outlets have synthetic plastic wrapped moist towels on the tables – for wiping their hands, and chopsticks are still predominantly wooden, disposable and sheathed in paper.
In the home, outdoor shoes are forbidden beyond the genkan, or entry hall; residents go barefoot, wear socks or slip into house slippers, while visitors are also provided with slippers to wear (Deliverymen are very adept at shedding shoes while lugging TVs and washing machines indoors). Moving outside to the balcony will also be accompanied by a change of footwear, just as a visit to the toilet means swapping house slippers for toilet slippers.
As for toilets, the Japanese have designed the most sophisticated device on the planet: the Washlet.
mapp : : tokyo 