The apartment needs to have a toilet, a sink, a shower, and
perhaps a steam room. The setup should look great, be space efficient, conserve
water and energy, and have low embodied energy. Must have audio privacy.
But why
are our baths the way they are? We look at other bath ideas.
To clean
yourself before you got into the bath water, you did not use a conventional
shower, but sit on a stool with a wooden bucket and ladle, soap and a sponge,
and in the more modern showers, a hand shower that was is used when needed for
rinsing and never left on to run into the drain. Sitting while you shower is
safer and I found a lot more relaxing; having no water running meant that I
could take as long as I wanted.
Since
some Japanese were nervous about sharing a tub with a westerner, I would do a
very careful and extended job of it and was squeaky clean by the time I got
into the tub, yet probably used less water than any shower I have had in North
America.
