Let's see the cultural difference between your country and Japan things through the appliances. Introduce the essential appliances for Japanese daily life
August 08, 2017You can see the cultural difference with comparing the appliances. Let's see the Japanese life from through the appliances.
While doing couchsurfing, I have talked a lot about difference between Japan and their countries with my guests. The categories range is various about, language , culture, lifestyle, job, education and more, but one of interesting topic is always about appliances we are using everyday. I guess Japanese products are pretty much different from overseas ones which my guests are using in their daily life, including usage, so guests are always interested in them. It is very interesting because we can see the cultural difference through to compare the appliances . Here are some stuffs that essential for Japanese daily life and often I talk with my guests as one of culture exchange. These are just few but I hope you also enjoyed to compare between your country and Japan, and you could feel little bit of Japanese life seeing this.
Bidet Toilet
The most famous one as you know and I highly agree with the opinion, the best Japanese stuff is bidet toilet. According Wikipedia, This machine named Wash let was released in 1980 by TOTO,the biggest Japanese company in sanitary field. The basic features are warming your bottom, and then cleaning it with warmed water. I met this machine for the first time was when I was 11 or 12 in one of my friend's house just had renovated and it was around first of 90's. The first impression was, I remember I had very strange feeling and I couldn't stop laughing because the shower tickle me. So I wondered who prefer this strange machine, and I thought at least I don't need it. But now, I can't live without this machine anymore. I haven been to America, Netherlands, and Germany in winter, staying places were all hotels though, I always almost got the heart shock because their toilets are supper cold like ice! Also, I'm not used to using only toilet paper anymore, so I always feel little bit uncomfortable with those, unfortunately. I hope every hotels get to set this machine in every rooms.
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| a controller of bidet toilet |
I think many of you already know or have used bidet toilet, but just in case, this is a controller part. The letters are all Japanese but it's very easy to use, you just put the button which you need seeing the icons. You can also control the shower power and placement, massage mode, moving nozzle , temperature of headed seat, and sometimes you can chose dry mode. Nowadays, I have never seen the houses and hotels that don't have the bidet toilet, every place have it, train stations, malls, hospitals, etc. This machine has became an essential in Japan.
Air conditioner
Japanese temperature has definitely changed in comparing to olden days, more humid and more hot. However, Japanese people tend to avoid using air conditioner despite the situation has obviously changed. Why? I think it is due to misunderstanding about cost of electricity to using air conditioner with old knowledge. In fact, very old one needs to a lot of electric power, means cost will increase, but this field is developing year by year so new ones are less to need much of power. Actually, the cost is only under 100,000 Yen (about 100 USD or 100 Euro) in a year. So, Now it's a popular trend that using air conditioner 24 hours through a year with the house which has good air tightness quality, like Germans, Canadians, Sweden's houses. West part of Japan from Tokyo is not cold so much even in winter, for example in case of my place, it's minus 5 or 6 degrees in coldest morning. I can control the comfortableness with only air conditioners so I don't need any stoves in my house. The air conditioner is very useful for both winter and summer, it's very essential in our life.
Water heater associated with Bathroom
I don't know whether this is used only in Japan, but I think it is a very useful water heater with controllable. Before that, let me explain the Japanese bathroom and usage. You can see the two sections on this picture, right side is obviously a bathtub, but I would like you to watch left side because some of my guests were confused using type of this bath room. The left part is a place for taking shower and washing body. We never wash body in bathtub. Firstly, we wash body and hair then get into the bathtub to warm body and to relax. By the way, in logically speaking, the hot water will never be dirty because we wash everything before get into the bathtub, but it's not meant completely clean. For this reason, it is a very famous story in Japan that teenager girls hate to use bathtub after their fathers use it. Japanese fathers are always said dirty, stinky, creepy by the girls. I'm so sad as a father of 3 daughters..probably I would be said same things from my daughters in near future.
Anyway, this practice doesn't depend the seasons, we usually do in any season, so it's necessary to make bathtub full everyday. We can do this routine task automatically with the water heater with these controllers.
Anyway, this practice doesn't depend the seasons, we usually do in any season, so it's necessary to make bathtub full everyday. We can do this routine task automatically with the water heater with these controllers.
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| bathroom side controller |
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| room side controller |
We have two controllers which one is set in bathroom and other one is in room side, mostly close to kitchen. The both controllers are avalable to change the temperature of course, and available to pour hot water is set the amount of necessary to fill the bathtub automatically, also available to set the timer. Once achieved the amount which is set, then the water heater keep the temperature for 4 or 5 hours (depends the machine). This is so useful because we had to check few times while pouring hot water into the bathtub to avoid to be overflowed before this type of water heater appeared, it was so stressful. But now, we can do anything while pouring, jobs, cleaning rooms, laundry, or even we can go out to somewhere to have dinner. I think this is also essential stuff for our daily life.
Rice cooker
I don't know so much about rice cooker in overseas, but I believe Japanese rice cooker is the best in the world. Japanese people including me stick to cooking rice because rice is main meal in Japan. If rice were not cook well, the dinner would be in very sad mood. So, rice cooker is very important stuff, the taste is very influenced by rice cooker's quality. There are so many rice cooker in Japan. Nowadays the popular ones have good iron as a inside pan, and available to use pretty much heat and pressure power to make rice to be fluffy. These are not cheap but we believe the very good rice cooker is worth to buy.
Gas stove
This is my gas stove with a small oven for mainly fish, very common one in Japan. Actually, I have hardly seen the gas stoves used for daily life in overseas countries so I don't know much difference but some guests were very interested in this category. To compare these with referring pictures, yes, the form is different. We don't have big oven in it, just have small one on the center. We can cook the middle size of Pizza somehow, but any other baked dishes we can't. The feature of this type of gas stove is available to control the fire power and the time using with electric panels, and also the auto stop can be used if the pan or oil will be too much hot or inadvertently forgot to turn off the fire. In totally, it is very electronized, not simple. I don't use all of ability of this gas stove because it's too much for me, but according manufacturer's manual it seems has a lot of usages. For example, you can cook the rice with this gas stove as just put the pan on it and push the "rice" button, or you can boil the water safely and easily as same as rice, just put the Kettle on it then put " Kettle" icon, or you can cook some dishes automatically with just push the button which selected by you in 18 menus that prior programmed by manufacture for each dishes, I never use it though.
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| control panel 1 for ranges |
The gas stove has pretty changed in this 10 years at least in Japan. However, I'm sure it's not same from your country's one, form, size, abilities it has. It is showing the cultural difference of food and cook. It's very interesting, don't you think so that?
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| control panel 2 for small grill |
Entrance door
This is the entrance door of my house. Did you notice the strange point? Yes, This door doesn't have "keyhole” anymore. We use a key card instead, like hotel rooms one. It's also now trend in Japan, all of houses which built in this 5 years have this type of door on entrance. To unlock this door is available to use a key card which inside the wallet, just touched the wallet to middle of door knob then the door is unlocked. I always bring the key card to put inside the wallet, so I never have to worry to forget the room key anymore. I like this door. Is it common in your place?
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| Put the card key to small 6 points on center, then door is locked/unlocked |
Compare the appliances quality
This 2 appliances are absolutely used in the world, but also the two appliances which Japanese products have not caught up to overseas products at all in my opinion.
laundry machine
Usually, we hang the laundry at outside to dry them. Of course, if it's rain or cloudy, we hang them inside the house but I never use a dryer for them. I have been asked some times from some guests that why you guys don't use a dryer for laundry. I always answered about this question that because our electricity cost is very high if I use a dryer, and also laundry might be damaged by a dryer so I don't use it. I had misunderstood till very recently that Japanese laundry machine is the best in the world, but my mind has changed after I came back from Australia. I used to use the dryer for laundry for the first time during I was in Australia because there are no hung laundry space in the hotel room. In the beginning, I was worried if the laundry could be short or broken somewhere by the dryer, but I was wrong. There is no damage every laundry and they are completely dried ! Wow!That's awesome! If it works such well, I could save the time everyday and get more free time! It's valuable to use it even if the cost will go high. Moreover, even if it needs more electricity cost it's no problem for me because I can less the cost if I use the dryer in the night because I chosen the rate plan which the cost will be cheaper than day time ( we can chose one in some rate plan ). That's good idea! So, I tried my dryer as soon as after came back to Japan, but I was so disappointed. First of all, it needs double time compared to Australia's one (actually it maker was Bosh), about over 7 hours for amount of all of my family's laundry, it means to need a lot of cost already. Secondly, this is the most important thing, laundry was not dried, still wet even I took nearly 8 hours for them! It doesn't make sense at all. By the way, my laundry machine is not old, pretty much new one in Japan, just 3 years old, but quality is like that. I know the laundry machines are made to fit each countries because the differences of water, detergents, or culture but I think dryer ability is not associated about that. I changed my mind, the Japanese laundry machine is not the best at least for me, the western's one is the best particularly their dryer is so much better than Japanese one. Next time after my laundry machine broken, I would search and buy American's or German's or other western country's one.
Dish washer (built-in)
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| Built in dish washer, Japanese maker's one |
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| This is my dishwasher, D5554 by ASKO |
Anyway, this dishwasher is super great. Any of Japanese maker don't have such a great machine. I think Japanese kitchen makers should redesign their all of kitchen to fit this type of dishwashers by ASKO, Miele, or other dishwashers maker's.
I still remember that it's not same in olden days. Japanese products and even people tended to be vilified in the world when I was very little. Japanese products were very often said that they are always going to break soon, or Japanese companies are just copying the Western and they can't create anything own self. It was not said only in the world but also in domestic of Japan. I'm not sure it's correct because I was just child, but I think most of the targets were cars and appliances. It had been said that the western's quality is great but expensive and Japanese quality is low but cheap. Nowadays it has changed, it seems Japanese appliances are known well as high-quality, useful, and well thought out etc in the world. Although I disagree with the opinion some Japanese say that "all of Japanese appliances the best in the world", the compliment from other countries people always meant so much to me anyway because I am a generation that know about this history.
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