This is a toilet
May 09, 2006
Have I ever shown you a Japanese toilet? It’s a hole in the ground!
Yup, it’s a squatting toilet. Sometime during your development as a foreign national surviving in Japan, you’ll need to work on your skills of the balanced crouch push. Some people refuse to use the squatting toilets and hold it until they find a seated one. Sometimes, you don’t have the luxury of holding it in…
So I just want to say that it’s early May and it’s already becoming hot. Yesterday was a barely bearable 28 degrees with a hint of humidity. A sign of things to come I’m afraid.
We’ve been in our new place for about two weeks now, after a heavy weekend of shuttling furniture back and forth from my old place. Luckily it’s only a five minute walk (we really love the neighborhood). Now armed with cable and internet, a much bigger place, and a TV in the bath, I’m ready to take on the married life with a grin on my face and a bead of sweat running down the side of my head.
Oh yes, we have now been legally married for three days. Before that we were only married under the eyes of God. So, congratulations to us again!
May 10th, 2006 at 06:33
Wow, I misread “squirting” toilet. Now that is definitely worth holding it in for…
May 11th, 2006 at 23:12
Is it just a camera trick, or does that toilet have two well worn foot marks either side of it as an added bonus..?? At least it will be soft on your feet…
May 14th, 2006 at 01:42
Time for my hole-in-the-ground toilet story!
I was in Brunei when I was 13, visiting some people with my parents. My mom’s friend literally lived in a two floor wooden shack. During the visit, I had to use the bathroom for a big dump, so I politely asked our hosts where the bathroom was. I said, “I really have to go.” The nice lady drove me all the way to her friend’s house to use his bathroom. I went into the bathroom and found it was literally a hole in the floor… take the picture from above, removed the porcelain and you’ll get the idea. Anyway, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring myself to squat over this hole and shit.
I went back outside and said thanks but no thanks. I thought it was strange that she drove me to use a hole in the ground. I asked the lady, “Why couldn’t I have used your bathroom?” thinking that nothing could be worse than a hole in the ground. Her reply? “I only had an ice cream bucket.”
May 14th, 2006 at 08:35
Wow. That really underlines how good we have it. Still, I’m wondering how hard can it be to dig a hole in the ground. So where did you do your business?
May 15th, 2006 at 11:37
I think I held it in until we went back over the border to Malaysia and then had a nice big coiling steamer on the futuristic toilet at my grandma’s.
May 15th, 2006 at 15:46
http://www.toiletstories.com - that would be another website idea.