Homes

 There’s a lot of differences in houses between countries. I know a big factor of Japanese houses is the genkan, here in America we don’t pay too much attention to keeping our shoes out of the house. I prefer to keep my shoes by the door, but I will sometimes walk to my room and I know other people wear shoes wherever they feel. I respect the cleanliness that comes from disallowing shoes in houses and when I’m over at other peoples houses I will always take my shoes off at the door. Another thing that I was just talking about with our Australian friends that came to visit was the toilets there compared to ours. They mentioned  having some toilets with the sink in the back of them like I know a lot of places in Japan have. I know that some places have heated wood floors as well, which sounds super nice to me. Although, I think you have to be really careful with them because they get scratched easily. I’ve also seen some traditional Japanese houses and they are so gorgeous. The tatami mats and shoji screen doors look really nice, but I know it’s all really fragile so I think you have to take care of them in very specific ways. I thought about getting a tatami mat and futon instead of an American bed when I moved but I ended up with one for free, I still think the futon set up would be cool after you get used to it.