Gaijin Jump

By Craig Chapin. First published in May 1988.

Baths are one area of life in which differences between Japanese and American ways of doing things are often brought into sharp focus. Many American visitors to Japan have embarrassing stories to tell about their first bath in a Japanese home. I have such a story, which should make interesting material for a future Gaijin Jump.

This, however, is not one of those stories. This is not a tale of a common cultural faux pas. Nevertheless, my blunder required some explanation of the cultural background—or rather of the mechanics of Japanese baths.

In Japan, an evening bath is the norm. I, however, prefer a morning shower. Since my apartment had no shower head, that was out of the question, so I settled for a morning bath.

Unfortunately, the water heater that was attached to my bathtub took a very long time to heat the bath water. Rather than spend an hour or two each morning waiting for my morning bath water to rise to tolerable temperatures, I would heat the water for about an hour and a half in the evening. I would cover the tub during the night to retain the heat of the water. The next morning I would heat it for another half an hour. Then I would bathe.

I generally came home very late and very tired. One day, when I was particularly tired, I started my regular evening ritual but then fell asleep with the water heater running and the bath uncovered. Eventually the water started boiling off. The roiling water actually shook the building, and the shaking half awakened me. I assumed it was “just another earthquake” and fell back into exhausted sleep.

When I awoke the next morning, the apartment was filled with a dense fog. Each key on my computer keyboard brimmed with a tiny pool of water. The computer was never quite the same after that. I’m thankful that there was just enough water left in the tub to keep the heater from burning out.