Monday, March 7, 2011

japanese baths - ofuro

“there must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but i don't know many of them.”
~ sylvia plath

lucky for us, the japanese take their baths very seriously! three types of hot baths: the most famous being the onsens hot spring resorts, the public baths and the most common one, the private bath at home! the japanese tub is deeper than the regular bath tub. 

we completely lucked out the bath department!! in our une petit apartment, we have an automated bathtub. one click and it fills up to the exact right level (reaches the brim exactly when we sit in) and at our preset temperature (41 degrees). it even gives us a warning 5 mins before its ready so we can jump into the shower in advance and enjoy the water at its hottest! how brilliant!!

 here's how we enjoy our very own bath experience! a mash-up of both the western & japanese way. 

assembly of my favorite bath-things: bath salts, body foam & our scrubby cloth 

after you're scrubbed clean in the shower, jump into the tub and soakies for as long as you like! im not a very chilled out person so i like multi-tasking even as i relax. i will apply my leave-in conditioner, remove nail polish, exfoliate, masque (sometimes i even start cleaning the tub as im sitting in it to.. *shh..* that my dirty little secret.)


my cue is when my fingers are shriveled up like a granny. but when you're done, you jump out and rinse yourself through with water again. 
in most japanese families, they recycle the bath water and keep it for a week or so. hence, the need to scrub clean before and after soaking. but we don't. i sometimes recycle the water to wash the bathroom or mop the floor. but it hardly lasts more than one night. the great thing about the automated tub is with this other button, it will reheat your tub, just like a kettle to the exact temperature & level! isn't that pure genius!? 


20 minutes of bliss and i find my sinuses all cleared up! and i'll always sleep like a baby through the night. 

small price to pay for a remarkable result! :)

xx

10 comments:

  1. I've NEVER heard of tubs like that! Only in Japan. Sigh!

    ReplyDelete
  2. SO JEALOUS! absolutely LOVE your bathtub. bathtubs aren't a given in HK apartments so i made it a priority to move into one that came with it. bathroom's a bit small though so the bathtub is a little petite...but i fit in it and that's all that matters!

    would still kill to have one that filled up automatically AND reheated the water though!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Yi Lian

    me too!! until we came here! its insane isn't it! wish they would export it!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Pei

    japanese apartments, no matter how teeny tiny, have tubs! how i wish it was a little bigger though!!

    when i was inspired to write about his, i told daniel to take a picture of our tub so it'll look like this (http://www.trendir.com/interiors/seaotter-japanese-ofuro-bath.jpg) haha! :)

    all i can say is, he did his best! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. So what you're saying is I need to move to Japan to truly be happy in life... It's incredibly tempting. I guess if I can become a famous wedding planner like David Tutera I could afford to have one imported!! hehe... life goals determined by falling in love with a bath tub... am I shallow? :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. u know what, i was thinking about your post when i was boiling water last night!! and imagining myself in the kettle!

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Noel Mahler

    OMG noey you're hilarious! i was thinking of you all the time when writing this one! :)

    and if you become david tutera, will you fly me to usa!? :)

    my life goals are determined by my shoes. *shallow friends five* :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. @kennytricia

    it is exactly that though! :) i bet the idea was derived from the kettle. you see that silver thingy that looks like a plug, that where the water & heat radiates from.

    x

    ReplyDelete
  9. @zhing i like his picture better...the one in the link is too minimalist/cold for my liking. yes i don't have a very japanese-y aesthetic!

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Pei

    thanks babe! i'll let daniel know!

    i was feeling the view and space a little more but you know! life gives you a tub, you soak and shut up! :)

    ReplyDelete

leave me a little love note. xx