Japanese Bathroom: Button Guide For Survival
Japanese apartments are known to be quite tiny but are also known to make quite a lot of sense when it comes to the random features inside. This article will guide you through the gazillion buttons so you can smoothly navigate your way through your Japanese bathroom experience.
Japanese Apartment’s Bathroom Buttons
Ventilation （換気）（かんき）（Kanki）
This button allows you to turn on the vent fan that will draw out moisture and odors from the bathroom and improve the air quality inside. Here you can choose between 常時（じょうじ）(usual) and 強（きょう）(strong).
Pre-Heater（予備暖房）（よびだんぼう）（Yobi-danbou）
This one is dedicated to those cold winter mornings and nights when taking your clothes off for a shower can become a major task. Freeze no further, because this button will pre-heat the bathroom for you so that when you take off your clothes, you’re welcomed with a heavenly warm bathroom.
Laundry Dryer（衣類乾燥）（いるいかんそう）（Irui-kansou）
Cold winter days or rainy days may come in the way of your laundry chore. Well not when you live in a Japanese apartment. This button will turn your bathroom into a drying room and will properly dry your clothes in as soon as three hours! You can even choose between warm air（温風、おんふう、onhuu） or cool air （涼風、りょうふう、ryouhuu）.
Bathroom Dryer（浴室乾燥）（よくしつかんそう）（Yokushitsu-kansou）
This button will dry up your bathroom in as soon as 30 minutes! Say goodbye to molds and cold wet bathroom floors!
Timer（切タイマー）（きりタイマー）（Kiri-Taima）
This allows you to set the timer for each feature starting from 30 minutes to 12 hours!
Stop（停止）（ていし）（Teishi）
The name says it all.
Wait, There’re More Buttons In My Japanese Apartment’s Bathroom!
Call（呼び出し）（よびだし）（Yobidashi）
When you press this button, it will tell the person in the other room that you’re calling them. It can be for emergencies or even for when you’re relaxing in the bathtub and want your roommate to fetch you a glass of wine.
Priority Selection（優先）（ゆうせん）（Yuusen）
This one is a bit hard to explain. If I press this button in my kitchen, then I am able to control the water temperature of my kitchen sink. If I press this button in my bathroom then I am able to control the water temperature in the bathroom.
Hot Water Control（給湯）（きゅうとう）（Kyuutou）
Press the up button for hotter water and the down button for the opposite.
Bath Water Volume （湯はり(湯量)）（ゆはり(ゆりょう)）（Yuhari(Yu-ryou)）
Press this button when you want to use the bathtub. It will fill water and automatically stop at the water volume you selected. A pretty useful feature for people who are likely to forget until water overflows and end up wasting a lot of water. I love this function because it tells me when my bath is ready so I don’t have to go and constantly check on my own.
Tip: Press this button then turn on the bath water valve. After the machine has informed you that the bath is done, turn off the valve and then press the water volume button once again.
Bath Water Volume Control（湯はり）（ゆはり）（Yuhari）
Press the up button if you want more water in your bathtub and the down button for the opposite!
On/Off（運転）（うんてん）（Oon-ten）
Turn this off when you are not using it to save electricity.
Temperature/Time Display （温度/時計）（おんど/とけい）（Ondo/Tokei）
The temperature and the time can be seen here. Chill in your bathtub without wondering what time it is!
Useful Japanese Words
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