The Japanese are NOT infected with the American Puritan Ethic (APE). When I lived there, outside of Hiroshima, they had a bathroom in public places, movie theaters, etc. Note I used the singular. Everyone went to the same room and there were no doors on the stalls. You would squat over a porcelain lined hole in the floor and empty your bowels. If you were a man and needed only to urinate you stood in front of a tiled wall with a pipe at the top spraying it while you did the same. The public baths did have separate dressing areas where you would put your clothes in a basket and then enter the large bath area, face the wall and sit on a short stool and wash and rinse off with a small bowl that you could fill as many times as you needed to. No showers. When you were finished, you would turn and face towards the bath which was a huge circle with steps. Women on one side, men on the other facing each other. The children could sit on the top step. You would sit as far down as was comfortable. When you started to overheat, you would sit on a higher step. Nudity is not equated with sexuality there as it is here. The same goes for much of Europe. And this was during the time when many women and some men still wore the kimono. Those of you with APE infected minds need to learn to get over it. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
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