{"id":7060,"date":"2021-11-18T19:28:19","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T19:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=7060"},"modified":"2021-11-18T19:28:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T19:28:19","slug":"a-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/a-door\/","title":{"rendered":"A Door"},"content":{"rendered":"

A door (\u30c9\u30a2 doa).\u00a0 It can open or close, and it can show things and it can hide things. It does so many things and it affects so many things in our lives.\u00a0 I wrote about the refrigerator in my first blog<\/a>.\u00a0 It is hard for a Japanese student who stays at a US host family to open the door of the fridge even if s\/he was told to \u201chelp yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Image by shannonrphillips<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Another cultural difference concerning a door is a \uff0abathroom (\u30c8\u30a4\u30ec toire).\u00a0 In the US, you keep the bathroom door open at home when nobody is using it.\u00a0 Meanwhile, in Japan, you always keep the bathroom door closed.\u00a0 So a bit of miscommunication for both a Japanese student and his\/her host family at home.\u00a0 The student closed a bathroom door when s\/he left. \u00a0Then a family member thought that someone was using the bathroom.<\/p>\n

Talking about the bathroom door, have you been to a Japanese bathroom at a department store (\u30c7\u30d1\u30fc\u30c8depa-to), office, or stationn (\u99c5 eki)? First of all (\u7b2c\u4e00\u306b daiichini), they are extremely clean even at a train station with the Washlet. (a brand name) \u00a0You must have noticed that the door covers top to bottom while there is considerable space in the bottom of the door in the US.\u00a0 This makes the Japanese so uncomfortable (\u843d\u3061\u7740\u304b\u306a\u3044 ochitsukanai) as a toilet is an absolutely private space for the Japanese.\u00a0 The door covers its entirety, and with the high-tech \u201cwashlet\u201d features, comes with a flushing (\u3056\u3063\u3068\u6d41\u308c\u308bzatto nagareru) water sound so that nobody outside can hear any sounds.\u00a0 This feature is known as Otohime (a brand name).\u00a0 It was created to prevent water from being wasted as many women flushed water to prevent others from hearing any noise you were making.<\/p>\n

When I went back to Japan and used one of those super clean and high-tech toilets at a department store, I felt uncomfortable with the door that closed top to bottom.\u00a0 I felt scared a bit.\u00a0 I felt claustrophobic (\u9589\u6240\u6050\u6016\u75c7\u00a0 heishokyoufusho).\u00a0 With a quick Google search, I saw one of the reasons that the bottom part of the toilet door is open is for safety in the US.\u00a0 I can see that after my own experience.\u00a0 Another reason is that you can see if someone is in the stall.<\/p>\n

Another cultural difference concerning a door is a bathroom (\u30c8\u30a4\u30ectoire).\u00a0 In the US, you keep the bathroom door open at home when nobody is using it.\u00a0 Meanwhile, in Japan, you always keep the bathroom door closed.\u00a0 So a bit of miscommunication for both a Japanese student and his\/her host family at home.\u00a0 The student closes a bathroom door when s\/he left.\u00a0 Then a family member thinks that someone is using the bathroom.<\/p>\n

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Image by Laney5569<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Another door function (\u5f79\u76ee\u00a0 yakume) is to keep anything outside from getting inside.\u00a0 With many dangerous elements outside, this may not be the norm in Japan anymore.\u00a0 When I was a child, children in Japan were typically threatened to be thrown outside the house as a punishment (\u7f70\u00a0 batsu) \u2013 being driven away from the family.\u00a0 My mom threw me out barefoot once.\u00a0 My family panicked when they noticed that I was gone from the garden.\u00a0 I went to one of the neighbors and was watching TV.\u00a0 Of course, you cannot do this type of punishment anymore as kidnapping (\u8a98\u62d0\u00a0 yuukai) is not so uncommon.\u00a0 Meanwhile, in the US, a child is grounded (\u5916\u51fa\u7981\u6b62\u306b\u3055\u308c\u308bgaishutsu kinshi ni sareru) and ordered to stay in his\/her room as a punishment \u2013 a removal from social (\u793e\u4f1a\u7684\u00a0 shakaiteki) interaction.<\/p>\n

A punishment in Japan is removal from one\u2019s family, while it is removable from one\u2019s society in the US.<\/p>\n

A simple panel of wood can tell you a lot about cultural differences.<\/p>\n

\uff0aTraditionally, a toilet and a bath are in separated rooms in Japan. \u00a0However, some new small apartments have them both in the same room.<\/p>\n

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A door (\u30c9\u30a2 doa).\u00a0 It can open or close, and it can show things and it can hide things. It does so many things and it affects so many things in our lives.\u00a0 I wrote about the refrigerator in my first blog.\u00a0 It is hard for a Japanese student who stays at a US host…<\/p>\n

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