ABSTRACT In an era of globalization and information explosion, culture difference has become one of those frequently-mentioned things. Now that most of the cultural topics are focusing on languages, food, fashion anything that is of high decency and attraction, this paper is to make an detailed analysis of culture differences between China and Japan by paying more attention to a “not-very-decent-aspect”, namely, the toilets, and therefore, to explore the different cultural elements rooted in different toileting habits, toilet training and toileting problems. Hopefully, this paper could make its contribution to helping dissolve misunderstandings and advancing the process of cultural exchange.
Key Words:Toilet Culture; Toileting habits; Toilet Training; Toileting Problems
INTRODUCTION About culture, different people has different opinions, but one of the very famous sayings is that “culture is everything about human beings”, so it can be a thought, a fashion, a style, what we eat and even where we go when we have a nature call, namely, toilets. Somehow, it 's hard to imagine that toilets can be different in different countries. Surely the way toilets are in my country is the way they must be everywhere? Well, a quick trip overseas will soon disabuse you of that notion. There are many different kinds of toilets, accordingly, there must be many different toilet cultures. This paper is to take out China and Japan, and to make an detailed analysis of the differences of toilet culture between them for although they are both typical Asian countries, their people yet hold different ideas about toilets and toileting.
PART ONE
DIFFERENT TOILETS AND TOILETING HABITS
1. Different Toilets China has both squat toilets and western style toilets. While the squat toilets are traditional and are a cultural difference. They are everywhere in China,
Cited: [1] Eve Sun, “Squat Toilets: What’s Your Position? ” The World of Chinese. 2012-03-30 [2] Singh, Nitish and Pereira, Arun. The Culturally Customized Website. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005. 0-7506-7849-6. [3] George, Rose. “Japan 's hi-tech toilets”. The Daily Telegraph. London 2008-08-29 [4] Magnier, Mark. “Japan Is Flush With Obsession”. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-08-05. [5] “Question for the doctor about right usage of Washlet” (医師に聞く!ウォシュレットの正しい使い方). http://allabout.co.jp/house/toilet/closeup/CU20080610A/index2.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-28. [6] Gonzalez-Mena, Janet. Multicultural Issues in Child Care. California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997.