Why aren't all bathroom like this?

Besides the nice warm bath, what I like best about it is you can spray water everywhere because of the drains in the floor.

Every time I clean my bathroom, I always wish I could just take a hose the room and be done with it.

I am pretty sure this is a class thing. There is no way a working class person, in Japan or anywhere else, could afford all those luxuries.

Heated bathtub? Really?

The Japanese are very focused on bathing, and given that a personal garage, or the purchase of a parking spot in a Japanese city can cost as much as your house, I suspect that buying a tub that heats the water would be an expense they would be willing to pay out. For bathing, the Japanese have had tubs that heated the water and floor drains for many centuries. Apart from the modern pipes, this is what they have used for a thousand years or more:



The main difference is that the round wooden tub would have been free-standing. Bathing is one thing the Japanese do better than any other culture that I know of--even better than the ancient Romans.

This. Personally, I don't want to give up my wine cellar space to increase the size of my 5000 square foot bathroom.

You could do this in less space than what is shown in the video.

Priorities. Maybe you don’t want a big kitchen, or big closets, separate dining area, etc. If you cut just a couple of square feet from each of the other rooms, you’d have no problem. How does the energy used to keep a covered tub of water warm compared to those who always have a coffee pot, television, computer, ceiling fans, or a hundred other enjoyable things on?

Besides having the nice warm bath, i’m Just in love with the floor drains. I make my own DIY shower spray and squirt down the bath tub/shower after each use. It’s the cleanest area of the house since it’s sprayed down with a combo of mostly water and peroxide, alcohol, Castile soap and rinse agent. I can imagine having a hose where you could just spray everything down, and switch a lever on the hose to allow some of the cleaning/rinse solution mix in. Like at a do it yourself car wash. Windex makes an outdoor window cleaner you attach to a garden hose that works the same way. It works great. When done spraying down the whole bathroom, turn on a vent on a timer and walk away. It’s not rocket science. Your towels are kept in an area behind a shower curtain or something.

Honestly? Comparing that kind of bathroom to what we have in typical use feels like the difference between what we use and a garderobe.

When spraying down the room I’d also be singing like the little girl “I don’t care, I don’t care” 🎼

In Japan, even the monkeys are into hot tubs:

I live in a NYC apartment where I rent. So... legally? I can not do this amount of renovation.

My point/idea is that why aren't bathrooms designed more efficiently like this in all new structures?

I know people can't always change what they already have.

The expense to a builder of having another drain put into the actual floor of a bathroom, and connecting it to the other drain in the bathtub would be easy enough.

Next to the conventional bathtub you have another water (can't think of the right word, tap I guess) that's in the form of a hose with a sprayer. The hose could include what I mentioned before, a connector with cleaning/sanitizing and water sheeting fluid.

You have a good vent system to help the room dry.

The threshold of the bathroom could have a raised lip so water doesn't leave the room when you're cleaning.

In reality, the size of the bathroom wouldn't have to change at all.

In the past I've done temp jobs hosting model homes. So many of them make a big deal of now having a separate little room for the commode. Then, right on top of the bathroom, the most humid (and stinky) room in the house, they put this enormous walk in closet that I could use as a bedroom (albeit a small one).

So they've already taken the step to have separate areas to void and brush your teeth. Why not add a drain and hose?

The house I just got in Mexico only has showers. However, 11 miles away are numerous hot springs.

When I'm down there, I'm pretty much going to live in those hot springs.

More than anything... this is a matter of wealth. Come on! If you have running water and a flushable toilet, these other little gimmicks are kind of frivolous. Most of the world sees a bathroom as a place to wash, and take care of bodily functions.

All of these little things; heated tubs and electronic sensors and adjustable spray nozzles cost money to build, and they cost money to maintain. If you are rich, it is nice. For most of the world (including me), if I can spray water on my body for 10 minutes in the morning... I am fine that.

The idea that there is anything "better" than a normal, unheated bathtub with hot water and a place to put ones soap and a towel seems rather silly to me.

This is wasteful spending for people who have more money than they know what to do with. In much of the world, the running water we take for granted would be appreciated.

Most of us have better things to do with our hard earned money.

Have you noticed that I'm concentrating on the aspects that will help people keep their bathroom cleaner, with less work?

i.e., a drain in the floor and an extra hose to spray the wall down, with a method to keep the water from leaving the room.

Also, I have said I'm talking about new builds, not renovations.

When I was in Egypt (many years ago), the toilet was a porcelain hole in the floor in the middle of the shower. The whole room the size of a closet and met both needs. They were nice enough to add two rectangles; the perfect spacing and size for your feet while you were using the toilet feature..

Is this what you are talking about? The whole setup worked fine... that shower toilet met my needs perfectly, and I appreciated the fact that the place I was staying had a pretty good water heater. These design decisions are often made based on resources, if you aren't wealthy enough for a Western toilet, you do without.

My point is that that the wealth and resources of middle-class people from first world countries aren't widely available in the rest of the world. Of course, if adding a drain in my bathroom would help me clean... I would be all for it. This certainly isn't anywhere near the top of the list of my personal projects.

So OK, I won't scoff at the floor drain. But the heated tub, electronic timers and excessive nozzles seem awfully silly.

In the Guardian's Saturday magazine a couple of weeks ago, there was a full-page colour ad for a fancy toilet with lights, hot water sprays to hose the crap off your ass, perfume dispenser, sensors galore, price not mentioned. The Geberit Aquaclean Mera. I Googled it. 4,500 plus UK pounds. About 6,000 US dollars. And that's an offer price! Although the Guardian purports to be left wing and into sustainability, save the planet, etc, it has its fair share of rich asshole readers. Maybe more than its fair share. I've heard of "conspicuous consumption" but that is ridiculous.

That can't be far off what I have spent on everything in my house! Maybe it is half of what I have spent, but still. My kitchen cost 1500 pounds.

I don't waste my time of Max's drivel, but I've just read Centrox's post in which he quotes him. Jesus wept, does Max think Japan is a third world country? What a maroon.

Our downstairs bathroom cost about $9500 but it was basically gutted and replaced, plumbing was brought up to code, mold was removed, and insulation was put in. It has been a long, messy job (last few bits still need to be done, like removing the trash).

I wouldn't mind hosing down the bathroom although what happens to the towels?

The towel racks can have a pull over/sliding door/partition of some sort. You also don't have all the chachkies hanging on the wall and sitting on open shelves, unless they can get wet.

What do they do in Japan? I hear they're pretty smart.

Set, you're right. Why do I even respond to max? I really hate that it's got to be twisted into some economic/politcal thing.

There's a lot of people who can't afford any type of car, so why should anyone be allowed to buy one, let alone a luxury model? A lot of people have to **** in a hole in the ground, so why don't we all do that in solidarity?


This isn't a one way or the other thing. If you don't want all the bells and whistles of a touch screen something or other. Then don't get it.

However, as I said before, it's all about priorities. Some people want a super large TV, or the latest car with all the new features. Personally, I find nothing obscenely over the top with having a tub that is filled with hot water, kept warm through some energy efficient method, and has a cover to keep the water warm. Use solar panels.

I simply found the design in general very practical.

You use the bath for nice long soaks, not putting your dirty body in it. You sit and clean yourself in a separate area next to the tub, and the water runs down a separate drain. In a new build, the bathroom floor would be slightly graded toward the drain. The sink area and even the toilet can still be exactly there in the same spot. It would just get wet while your cleaning yourself. Then you hose everything down, turn on the vent, and leave. It certainly would be nice to have some sort of partition between the showering, sink and commode area. That way someone brushing their teeth won't get sprayed. Could be as simple as a $2 shower curtain, or an elaborate as you want to get.

Put up a very thin tension rod across an area, small enough to thread through the grommets of a shower curtain. That way you don't even have to deal with those shower hooks when you go to replace the curtains (if needed) every few months.

That's funny. Setanta says he "doesnr waste his time" after he opened up and editor for the purpose of wasting his time.ñ typing out his little swipe.

Setanta seems obsessed with me, in the last thread he said he has me in ignore... and yet he can't help himself. He could ignore me, and yet on thread after thread he comes after me.

He is kind of like a puppy. He yaps too much, but he is kind of cute following me around like that.

If he ever actually ignores me... I will be a little sad. I don't think he can do it.