Japanese Bathrooms in Japan

When looking for accommodations for your stay in Japan you may look at the size of the place, how big the beds are, if there's free WiFi or even how big the bathroom is. You won't be spending too much time in your hotel or other accommodation but it can still be a game changer on how big that bathroom is. The size of the bathroom can be a game changer for your trip to Japan. That may sound weird but it could possibly make things relaxing for you or super difficult. Let's explore Japanese bathrooms.

A Japanese bathroom will always have your standard Japanese toilet (I'm talking about places to stay not public bathrooms, I make no promises for park restrooms). These toilets are really convenient and make you feel spoiled if you come from a country that just has simple toilets. I talked more about these toilets in my other blog post "Public Restrooms in Japan." Briefly, these toilets have the ability to wash you after you handle your bathroom business and can even dry you after. Different residential toilets will have a sink at the top to wash your hands after flushing which is a very eco-friendly feature. Public toilets in higher populated areas like airports will have even more features that make your bathroom experience amazing. But right now we're just talking about residential bathrooms you can find in hotels and apartments in Japan.

Your standard Japanese bathroom will have the toilet in the same room as the shower, making the bathroom space a bit cramped. In some residential spaces, the toilet and shower will be in separate rooms but expect little leg room while on the toilet in these situations (and this is where the toilets with the sinks on top come into play). The typical format of a Japanese bathroom with all the commodities in one will have the toilet at one end, the sink in the middle and the shower/tub at the other end of the bathroom.

At this point there is little room to walk in the bathroom, but that's not the tough part. Japanese people are typically shorter than western people (there are a few taller Japanese people in Japan). The bathrooms are sometimes raised a bit from the rest of the living space which makes taller people have to crouch to get into the bathroom. It doesn't stop there! In Japan, they mostly take baths. So they really utilize sitting in the tub more than standing in the tub for to use the shower. With this in mind, taller people may have difficulties in the shower if you decide to take a shower instead of a bath. The shower head is low enough to practically hit your head on. The upside to this is that most of the shower heads are detachable. If you're not used to showering with a detachable shower head then this can be a bother, but it's a great alternative if you are on the taller side.

My tall husband trying to get into the bathroom at a Japanese style inn called a ryokan.

If you stay at a higher-end hotel that caters to western visitors you shouldn't have any problems with living space as these accommodations know how to cater to tourists from other countries. They know they need to have spacious rooms. But you can expect the smaller bathrooms I've been talking about at budget traveler hotels and ryokan, Japanese hotels. And if you plan to stay at a hostel while in Japanese, expect to be sharing the bathroom space with all the other guests as these places don't have private bathrooms in the rooms.

I hope you enjoyed this blog about bathrooms in Japan. Bathrooms are always interesting to talk about, especially since they are so different than the bathrooms I'm used to in America. It's nothing to be scared about but it is something you need to consider while choosing places to stay at while in Japan if one of your priorities is your comfort.

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Until the next blog, see ya!