Japan: June 10-19, 2018. Cleanliness

There's a pair of shoes for the outdoors, a pair of slippers for the indoors, and a second pair of slip-ons for the toilet room.

There's soap and disinfectants for hands with scents and oils to delight all the senses at meal tables, entryways, bathrooms, hotel bedrooms.  My hands are slippery smooth and smell like roses or lilacs or a variety of other flowers.

Condiments for hygiene in each room include packaged brushes, toothpaste, manicure sets, several different kinds of soaps, shaving apparati with foam, and lotions with scents. Note that (for all but one night) did not stay in fancy establishments, by any means.

In the common bath, there's a room with sinks for manicures and faces and hands. Here you disrobe and place your clothing and items in a basket.  There's a separate room with stools to sit upon while you shower (next to others who are doing the same) with soaps and run buckets of warm-to-hot water over your scrubbed body (shown below). Bathing is a social event; people scrub each other's backs.  There's a stone bathtub the size of a small room adjacent to the scrubbing room flowing swiftly with hot water that surely is fully rejuvenated completely every ten or so minutes with a view of plants, flowers and sunlight. The depth is perfect; a ledge allows you to sit waist-down in water; the bottom allows you to sit neck-down in water.  I've taken to love morning and evening baths like this; the nourishing products, rich with smells, lather and softness, combined with the soothing warmth is a wonderful way to start and end each day.

While the photo below is from the Route Hotel in Toki, our experience at other hotels verified that this was a standard bathing strategy.   Paul and I were sure to watch youtube videos explaining bathing etiquette so that we would not offend anyone.

We found toilets to be different.  Independently. Paul and I both photographed and marveled at the bidet in the hotel bathroom -- Paul even videoed the lid opening by itself as he entered the stall -- completely synchronous with the musak playing.  The electronic computerized controls to the bidet were mounted on the wall.

Sometimes the controls (and services) were more involved.  All the bidet features seemed to include an ability to move the spray, change the temperature and change the pressure of the spray.  Some had a blow-dry option.

 It was clear, however, that not all Japanese people had access to this technology.  Detailed, clear and visual instructions sometimes accompanied these "western toilets"

And also, not always was this technology available to everyone.  Sometimes, the squatters appeared in public areas.  The reason behind "toilet shoes" became obvious to me in these cases.















And instead of a work-out room in the hotel, there's a "relaxation room" complete with massage chairs and foot massagers.  It seems appropriate that these rooms were paired with the baths: the intent is to cleanse and refresh the soul.

While we did see feral cats in the larger temple and castle compounds, we did not see many pet dogs in the city.  When we rode our bikes by the river our last day in Kyoto, we observed an older couple with their dog.  As the dog squatted to do his business, the woman squatted behind the dog, holding a large newspaper between his legs to catch his excrement as the man held the dog on a leash from the front.