Daily chores

As a way to support my family I do a lot of chores each and every day.  I do the laundry so my family has clean clothes to wear.  I wash the dishes so my family has clean dishes to eat off of.  I pick up toys and vacuum so my house stays clean.  I do many things, as many others around the world do each and every day.  So, what is different here in Japan?  There are a lot of little differences. 

When I wash laundry, I usually dry everything outside.  As I look around, I notice that houses and apartments often have southern facing porches.  I think this is designed in part to dry clothes outside. Part of the laundry is also handing the futon, or comforter, outside as often as possible.  It is believed the sunlight will keep dust mites at bay.  I say believed because I don't really know if it is true or not.  I do put our comforter outside regularly, but that is more for the fresh air than to prevent dust mites.

When I wash the dishes, I need to turn on the hot water.  There is a little button in the kitchen that I press to light the gas that heats the water.  The button is on a great little panel that also lets me fill up the bathtub with just a push of a different button.  It is a very useful little panel.

One interesting thing that I need to do each day is dry off the bedroom window.  Since we turn on the heater in our bedroom in the evening, there is a large amount of condensation on the window each morning.  To prevent mold, I wipe down the window and then leave it open for a while until is it dry.  I asked a friend if I was doing something wrong and she told me that her job as a child was wiping down all the windows each day in the winter.  She also told me it was only the northern facing windows that need wiping down.  She was absolutely correct!  The wet window is our only northern facing window.

They are just little differences, but noticeable nonetheless.