By Des Campbell. Aug. 17, 2015
“He’s a monster!”
That’s what my father-in-law said when my wife warned him how tall I am via phone prior to our first meeting. As a six foot five, 250 pound American, I am big in the U.S., but in Japan I am gigantic. To a Japanese family like my wife’s, I look like I can take on Godzilla.
I lived in Japan for eight years, and I can’t say I ever fit in – literally. The traditional doorway in Japan only comes to the bridge of my nose, and at the school I worked at they ended up removing some door frames that had sharp edges after I almost scalped myself on one. In our apartment, I had to duck and turn sideways to get into the bathroom. Despite these inconveniences, I found that Japanese living really makes a lot of sense.
The only single story houses I ever saw in Japan were more than one hundred years old. In a country with limited resources and space, a single story house is just wasteful. In half the space they can still do everything we in the U.S. do. Don’t think small and cramped – think efficiently comfortable.
[/media-credit] Desmond considering architecture in Japan.
The inside of the houses are carefully designed to use all available space, and the rooms are almost always multi-use. In our apartment, at night our living room was divided by sliding doors, and voilà, bedrooms appeared. Our beds were futons (not like American futons; they were just simple mats laid on the floor), which were folded and put away in closets during the day. We didn’t have a dining room; we ate in the kitchen. That’s pretty standard in Japan.
Do we in the U.S. really need huge houses? What would a smaller footprint look like? Really think about it. Half the space means half the cleaning, half the maintenance, half the energy to heat and cool, and half the materials to build. It also means a heck of a lot less time working to pay off a house full of rooms and stuff that we don’t even use.
But I digress.
Japanese don’t have hot water tanks. Seriously, you can’t buy one. The average Joe (or Tar) in Japan doesn’t even know what a hot water tank is. It’s all on-demand water heating systems. Why is that a good thing, you ask? Because water heater tanks use energy 24 hours a day to keep the water warm, and on-demand water heaters only use energy when you actually turn on a faucet or shower. It’s all about conservation. Plus not running out of hot water in the middle of a shower is, well, awesome!
There are other little things typical in Japan that help conserve energy, resources, and money. For example, every house in Japan has a balcony. Where else would you dry your clothes? The whole time I lived there I never saw a dryer in anyone’s house. I also never saw a dishwasher.
Doorways aside, Japanese style living is a lot more sensible in a world of limited resources and space. The U.S. learned a lot from the Japanese about how to build a car and about electronics. It’s time to take a lesson in housing as well.
I enjoyed your article, Desmond, and sent a link to my good friend in Portland, Tony (aka “Tuna”) Cole, who also was relatively large and spent 8 years teaching English in Japan some years ago. He’s writing a book about his experiences there, including marrying a lovely Japanese lady and bringing her back to Portland many years ago. Hope you two make contact with each other and trade some notes!
Thank you for the positive comment! I am glad you enjoyed my article. I’ll send you a private email shortly.
Desmond…you can add architectural critic to you resume. I enjoyed the article…it really is a different built environment in Japan. Sounds like you worked at “fitting in”.
Life was never boring, that’s for sure. I do sometimes get “homesick” for Japan. Thank you for the kind comment!
I’m not nearly as tall as Desmond, and I remember in a supermarket seeing the tops of refrigerators were very dirty. (Dirt is unheard of in a supermarket, you could eat off the floor.) Then it occurred to me I was the only one who could see the tops of the refrigerators in the store.
Life was never boring, that’s for sure. I do sometimes get “homesick” for Japan. Thank you for the kind comment!
Scott, please give me a call when you have a moment.
Great article Desmond. I like the digress because by comparing life in other cultures it makes us question ours. Our homes are unnessisarily large and when we illuminate this then change for the better can take hold.
I agree, I have learned a lot about what I really need and what I really don’t need through my travels.
Thank you for such a positive response to my article, glad you enjoyed it!
And don’t forget how the (older) toilet tanks allow you to wash your hands in the water that is pouring into the top of the tank. Or kotatsu – heat the people instead of the whole house. Nice read, thanks.