The age of homes, interior design, balconies...
we go down the balcony into the cellar... in Japan
and in Germany, the bathrooms are SO different. Since we are in the bath...
let's walk over to the toilets... the old traditional homes...
Hello guys it's me CathyCat, if you don't understand German switch on the subtitles cause this time
we're gonna talk in German. This time the topic is gonna be houses.
We will talk about the major differences between Japanese and German homes and
what surprised me!
Number 1 the age or homes. In Germany many family homes
are old traditional homes, existing for ages, dozen of generations in one house...
some even have monumental protection. I don't see that much with Japanese family homes.
On the contrary, Japanese people seem to like to build new houses instead. In the years
the 6 years that I am living here... I have seen people build and demolish a house
just to build an new one in the space. The owner must have changed and didn't like the old house.
They wanted their own new house instead.
Especially in Tokyo it shows how houses
completely get demolished for new houses.
There are several reasons: some prefer new things. Some don't like old things
left behind. For example if someone passed away in it. Also houses in Japan
houses need to abide safety regulations. Old houses are said not to be as safe
in case of an earthquake so some decide to build a new one.
Number 2: Interior. In Germany the houses have THICK walls
double or triple glazed walls and central heating. Sigh.
In Japan it's different. Japanese houses are designed for summers
so no central heating but
instead many Japanese houses have air-conditioning. At least in the Kanto region. The north of Japan
is different. Here in Tokyo there is no central heating. The windows
are single glazed, less isolated, the walls are thinner, the houses are made for summer
many windows are very big, if you open all of them
you get a natural flow of air that airs out the house in summers, even without air-conditioning.
You shouldn't get too hot, have a nice flow of air in the room.
In winter I personally find it tough to heat with air-conditioning. In Japan's north there's central heating
Japanese houses are often build for summer
Number 3 the balcony. It's wonderful to have a balcony where you
put some flowers it, and have breakfast there on Sunday mornings.
In Germany that works but not so much in Japan
In the big cities of Japan the balcony has a different purpose than abroad
The balcony generally isn't used for sitting. I barely see anyone sit on it.
Not even those old people who just sit on the balcony and look down. Do you know what it's for?
There are 2 reason: One reason is.... on the balcony... let's take this again
Cut it after I say "zwei verschiedene Gruende" and then we can continue after that.
Reason 1: It's perfect for hanging your laundry. In Japan
the washing isn't washed with hot water. The balcony is for drying and
disinfecting the wash with the sunlight. Well right
When you come to Japan, watch out for those balconies that are stuffed with washing and knickers
The second important reason: Many balconies are also
functioning as emergency exit. Near balconies is often an escape route.
In case of an earthquake or similar there's a path or ladder to escape with.
The balcony has very different uses in Japan than in Germany.
Number 4 we move from the balcony to the cellar. In Germany we store
more frozen foods, ski gear, old shoes or water bottles in the cellar
All of that stuff is down in the cellar. In Japan it's rare for a normal family home
to have a cellar. Before you can build a cellar, you gotta make the house earthquake safe.
So you gotta dig into the earth to install that. But then
that's not the main reason. In Japan there's a law how much you pay for how many rooms and
the cellar costs more. It's a lot more expensive to build and pay for a cellar
and then add the rules. Way to much effort. So no cellars.
Number 5: The bathrooms are totally different!
A "good" bathroom is big with a huge bathtub and then
at least one or two sinks.
A big bathroom is great to have but in my opinion
Japanese bathrooms are superior. They are little Transformers, I tell you! Effective,
practical and full with technology. Never seen it anywhere else in the world.
Many bathrooms are like a cubicle. A box. In there is the tub and also
the separate shower room....
But here it comes: It's fantastic what's in them. 1st you shower and hop into the bath BUT
Japanese bathtubs DO RE-HEAT THEMSEVLES! You can control your favorite temperature (I like it hot at 41 degrees)
The bathtub automatically fills to 41degrees and when it's full,
the tub sings a song to tell everyone in the house that it's done. Let's go. Fantastic. Unbelievable.
The bathtub stays warm on the 41degrees until you're all bathed out.
Then you drain it. Some families re-heat the water on the next day because you only use it cleaned.
A self-heating bathtub!! Why don't we have that abroad!? And because the bathroom is sealed
those cubicles are super easy to clean. Bye mold.
Since there isn't wallpaper on the wall. Some even have airconditioning inside the bathroom
it automatically dries the bath (no mold!) and if you can't use the balcony to dry the wash
you can set the air timer to dry the washing in your bathroom. Fascinating
Fascinating!!!
Number 6 since we are in the bath, let's walk over to the toilet. In Germany it's a separate room... kinda cold
and you have a newspaper in there in case someone's bored. Different in Japan.
If you didn't hear yet how amazing Japanese toilets are you're missing out.
Japanese toilets are heating the seat! In the cold winter you don't get a sit-down-freeze-scare.
Heated seats and more to set up. Some toilets have a sensor too
You open the door, the toilet greets you beepbeep
The toilet opens up and happily waits for your visit with the heated seat. In Germany we have bidets
in some old houses. In Japan the bidet is included in the toilets. If you feel so,
you can have your butt and other parts get washed by pre-heated water.
You can set the temperature. You'll feel a lot cleaner. How practical. You can set sounds settings
On public toilets you hear the sound of water running. If you buy a luxury loo
that disinfects itself, you can also set the toilet to sing your favourite song.
You can do your business to the tune of Mozart.
Number 7 the old traditional homes. We are moving away from 21st century technical things
to the past. Let's think of traditional homes in Japan. In Germany we have
many wooden houses, a chimney and for religious houses a cross painted on the house
somewhere. Seen that. Let's talk traditional houses in Japan...
Some traditional houses have a room for visitors, which is often the
tatami room. In the tatami room you have a niche for art in case you need to entertain guests.
That's traditional. Some older houses also have ...
a house shrine and a house temple. The shrine is placed in the highest part of the room. In another room
ideally not in the same room, there will be a temple prayer corner too.
There you can display pictures of people that have passed on and pray there.
Both religious items in one house is ok in Japan. Seen it. Fascinating.
In Germany we have a chimney, in Japan there is also a type of open chimney that can be used for cooking
With the technical things there are many surprises here in Japan. Auto locks for example
When someone rings the doorbell, you can see the person, talk through interphone,
you see the person and it leaves a video record for later. Exists abroad too maybe. I also like post boxes
In big apartments, there are post box spaces for packages, so you can still receive post
even if the person is not at home. Secured with a number. Practical!
There are many new inventions that can be found in new houses. The more money you have the more you can afford.
Like a sauna in the little bath cubicles. Fascinating things I tell you. These were some differences I saw
between Japan and Germany. If I missed something, let me know in the comments. If you can think of anything else...
from your country, don't have to be Germany, let me know.
If I was to compare Japan and the USA would think: SIZE
The houses in Japan are a lot smaller compared to US or German family homes.
Now I hope you enjoyed this, I hope you enjoyed me in German too. Have a nice day, my name is CathyCat
Find me on my other social media like Twitch under cathycat_tv . Hope to see you soon bye!