Squat toilets ? slippers?

Question

when i used a japanese squat toilet i had to put a pair of special slippers on and i said " ih my god im only going for a pee its not like im gonna go paddling in the bowl!"

and even though i have a little bit of japanese blood i have been living in the uk for 3 years now so i dont remember much about japan!

please can someone tell me why those slippers are there?

Answer 1

Who are the idiots giving thumbs-down to these answers?  THEY ARE ALL CORRECT!!!  The slippers are to prevent "dirt" from getting tracked from the bathroom to the rest of the house!

Answer 2

When you think of it it is very hygienic. Not everybody can manage to pee directly into the hole, so there are always some drops around. If you stand on it and walk into your living area with the same slippers you wore in the toilet you can imagine how many germs you will spread!

Answer 3

For sanitation.

Japanese don't want to use same slipper at both toilet and other living space in the house.

Answer 4

We can agree that wearing no shoes inside our homes is a pretty good idea. We don't want to carry the dog p**p from the yard into our house. By keeping things sanitary we free up the floor for sitting and lying down. Wow! We have made the most of the available horizontal space AND no p**p, mud, dead bugs etc.

Now, why would we want to successfully stop the filth from coming in the front door and then allow the urine and p**p from our bathroom into places in our house where babies crawl, families eat and we all sleep? Nope. We don't want that. We want to wear temporary shoes that isolate our feet from the toilet which in many cases is inches away. We can leave the temporary slippers in the toilet  for the next person (still clean inside) and enjoy a sanitary home.

I know it sounds strangely sterile and like a preoccupation with hygiene but it becomes habit and then soon passes itself off as common sense.

Answer 5

sorry im confused. are you either 4 year old-ish or have very short memory span?

how can u forget something in just 3 years?