The Mainichi News Quiz: What was that surprising finding about libraries and senior health?
How closely have you been following events in Japan? Try The Mainichi News Quiz for June 27 to test your news knowledge. Ready?
What surprising correlation was identified by Japanese researchers between public libraries and elderly residents' health?
A) Cities with more public library events had lower obesity rates.
B) Municipalities with more library books had fewer residents requiring long-term nursing care.
C) Areas with larger libraries had fewer people diagnosed with depression.
D) Regions offering online library catalogs reported fewer senior hospitalizations.
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6 hours ago
Bathing and 'Purity': Cleanliness and Nationalism in Modern Japan
In the spring of 2024, the phrase 'bath cancelling community,' or ' furo kyanseru kaiwai ' began trending on Japanese social media. Some young people had decided that bathing every day was not worth the hassle and took to social media to announce that they were resigning from the practice. 'The idea that you could 'cancel' your daily bath, of course, only makes sense if it's normally taken for granted that taking a bath every day is just something you do,' says Kawabata Miki. 'I was interested in where that idea came from, and how it was formed.' Probably many people in Japan have childhood memories of their parents urging them to hurry up and get in the bath before supper, and still feel today that they would rather choose a leisurely soak in a bath over a quick shower even on a trip away from home. Kawabata says she remembers wondering as a child why her parents were so insistent about getting her in the bath every evening. These formative experiences played a part in her choice to focus on bathing customs in her research. 'I felt these bathing habits had deeply influenced Japanese standards of cleanliness. I wanted to trace the origins of this belief that the Japanese are a nation of inveterate bath-lovers, clean and pure in body and mind, and look back at how these customs took shape.' Too Much Bathing Bad For Your Health? Local traditions throughout the country make it clear that people were bathing in natural hot springs from an early period. Following the arrival of Buddhism in the middle of the sixth century, temples around the country established bathing facilities and steam baths, which were open not only to monks and nuns but also to visiting pilgrims. Temples began to accept donations from bathers, who could accumulate merit by donating money to these facilities attached to Buddhist temples. These simple baths developed into commercial operations, and sentō bathhouses began to flourish during the Edo period (1603–1868). The first sentō in Edo opened in 1591, the year after Tokugawa Ieyasu entered the castle town that would become Japan's largest city. By the seventeenth century, records show that there was a bathhouse in more or less every district of the shogun's capital. 'The establishment of the shogunate in Edo prompted huge numbers of civil works projects, and workers from all over the country flooded into the city. It wasn't just Edo. The same thing happened in Osaka and Kyoto as urbanization progressed. Bathhouses were generally known as yuya at the time (湯屋, written with the same character 湯, meaning 'hot water,' as sentō 銭湯). Steam baths were the commonest type. People bathed frequently, eager to sweat and scrub away the grime of daily life, and leave feeling clean and fresh. 'In the mid-Edo period, the neo-Confucian scholar Kaibara Ekiken wrote in Yōjōkun (Precepts for Health) that bathing in hot water encourages perspiration and therefore exhausts the vital energy source known as ki . He issued a stern warning against the dangers of excessive bathing. In other words, people were bathing often enough to prompt warnings about overdoing it.' Most Edo-period bathhouses were built in what is known as zakuroguchi style. A wooden partition divided the area where people washed from the bath itself. A low opening in this divide served as an entrance to the bathing area. People had to crouch down to enter, in order to prevent the steam from escaping. On the bathing side inside the zakuroguchi , it was so dark that people sometimes failed to notice things floating in the water. Since there was no piped water supply, the bathwater was not changed very often. A picture of the low zakuroguchi entrance at a bathhouse in Santō Kyōden's Kengu irigomi sentō shinwa (Wisdom and Folly Mixed in New Tales of the Bathhouse). (Courtesy National Diet Library) Regulations on Mixed Bathing For much of the Edo period, it was common for men and women to bathe together in the public yuya . Over time, concerns were raised that this might be 'injurious to public morals' and there were repeated attempts to regulate the practice, including a ban on mixed bathing issued during the Kansei Reforms (1787–1793) by Matsudaira Sadanobu, a senior councilor of the shogunate. 'Some scholars believe the real purpose of these regulations was to exercise control over the urban poor, who often used bathhouses in the basue , or peripheral neighborhoods on the edge of the city. At a time when violent riots and protests commonly followed poor harvests or rice shortages, the authorities may have wanted to use bathhouses as a tool for monitoring and managing unruly elements.' When Westerners started to arrive in Japan in the mid-nineteenth century, they were full of admiration for the Japanese custom of daily bathing, which they saw as a mark of cleanliness and hygiene. But they were also shocked by the relaxed attitudes to nudity and the widespread practice of mixed bathing. This discomfort gave added impetus to calls for reforms—but even then, mixed bathing was slow to disappear. In 1879, the Tokyo government became the first local authority to establish a comprehensive set of bathhouse regulations ( yuya torishimari kisoku ). These covered licensing, fire prevention rules, and a ban on mixed bathing. By the late Meiji era (1868–1912), similar regulations had been introduced across the country, and bathhouses were brought under police supervision. Bathhouses began to modernize—not only in how they were run, but in their physical appearance too. Purity of Body and Mind Ordinary people in Edo bathed frequently to wash off the grime of everyday life. But that was not all. In his 1802 work Kengu irigomi sentō shinwa (Wisdom and Folly Mixed in New Tales of the Bathhouse), Santō Kyōden describes people gathering in a bathhouse at the end of the year to wash off the accumulated grime of the past 12 months. Cleansing the body, he says, purifies the mind, washing away base desires and worldly attachments. 'As the culture developed over the three centuries of the Edo period, the act of bathing became closely linked with the idea of spiritual cleanliness and purity,' Kawabata says. Following the 1868 Meiji Restoration, bathing increasingly came to be seen as a moral virtue. It was in this period that the modern discourse of the Japanese as a 'nation of bathers' began to take shape. 'From the turn of the twentieth century, you start to see a certain kind of discourse: people start to claim proudly that Japan has possessed this tradition of bathing since ancient times, that Japanese of all classes bathe regularly, while in the West, even the upper classes bathed only infrequently, and so on. Bathing was essentially seen as an inherently good thing, and Japanese customs reflected the fact that they were a uniquely clean and hygienic people.' This rhetoric gained force following Japan's emergence as a major power following its military victories against Qing China (1894–95) and the Russian Empire (1904–05). 'How had this small nation of diminutive people defeated great powers like Russia and China? Politicians and intellectuals looked for explanations in things like bushidō, in the supposed character of the Japanese people—and even in this habit of regular bathing. Many of these ideas were framed in the context of an implicit comparison with the West. They were part of a response to condescending Western views of Asia at the time, and the racist panic of the so-called Yellow Peril.' One of the formative moments in linking cleanliness and the national character came with the Rescript on Education ( Kyōiku chokugo ), issued by Emperor Meiji in 1890. Intended to unify the nation through moral instruction, the rescript itself was written in terse, abstract language that was difficult for most people to understand. To help the message reach a wider audience, more accessible books on public morality were published in great numbers and had a marked impact. 'The government needed a set of national values to unite the people spiritually and encourage patriotism and loyalty to the state and the emperor at its pinnacle. This gave rise to the idea of a national morality, supposedly built on the national character. Of course, this led to debates about what exactly that national character was. One of the positive traits that people fixed on was purity. People pointed to bushidō, for instance, where a samurai who had compromised his loyalty could prove his spiritual purity by performing seppuku. And this found its reflection in the idea of physical purity and the national custom of regular bathing.' 'People argued that physical uncleanliness led to spiritual defilement. They cited early mythology, drawing on the story of the god Izanagi, who purifies himself with water to rid himself of defilement after returning from the underworld. In the Edo period, the idea of cleansing the spirit by washing away the 'grime of the heart' was already part of the culture and this may have made such ideas easier for people to accept.' Wives and Mothers and Hygiene at Home In schools, government-issued textbooks on 'moral training' ( shūshin) taught children that maintaining hygiene and health was not just for their own benefit but for the good of the nation. These books were used from 1904 until the end of World War II. At home, it was the housewives and mothers who were responsible for hygiene and for making sure that the nation's children got their daily soak. (Photographed by ) After the Sino-Japanese War, women were encouraged to live up to the ideal of ryōsai kenbo (a 'good wife and wise mother'). Numerous books were published offering advice to women on how to run the household. These books repeatedly emphasized the importance of children's bathing. Women were expected to pass on Japan's bathing traditions to the next generation and raise clean and healthy children to be dutiful subjects of the empire. 'Seen in the broader historical context of women's pursuit of their full rights, it's likely that at least some women embraced the role willingly, seeing it as a way to affirm their value in society. But this historical role of motherhood for the state, which many women accepted and internalized, has had a lingering impact. We can see its effects in many of the issues we face today, I think, including the unpaid 'shadow work' that many women are still expected to do behind the scenes.' Public Baths and Good Citizens While many ordinary Japanese people took pride in the national custom of bathing, from around the turn of the twentieth century bureaucrats and social reformers started to take cues from the public bath movement in the West. Emerging during the second half of the nineteenth century, this movement focused on providing public bathhouses in urban areas for immigrants, workers, and the poor. 'Both in the West and in Japan, bathing was associated with ideas of spiritual cleanliness, social order, and class. In Japan, people were told that bathing helped make them into loyal subjects of the emperor. In the West, the emphasis was on turning people into good citizens.' 'Japanese public hygiene specialists who traveled to observe conditions in the West came home advocating that public baths should be built as part of social policy, and that the government should help to make them affordable. This led to a system in which the government built the facilities, which were then run as private businesses. This public-private partnership policy led to a boom in new bathhouses, especially in major cities. In Kyoto during the 1910s and 1920s, for example, public baths were built in burakumin areas that had traditionally been the subject of intense discrimination. These were run by residents' groups representing the local community. The projects not only improved hygiene but also created employment opportunities in socially disadvantaged areas and helped improve infrastructure by providing piped water.' Bathhouses were also built in places where regular bathing had previously been less common, such as in Ainu communities in Hokkaidō, in Okinawa, and in Japan's colonies in Taiwan and Korea. 'Bathing practices and notions of cleanliness were sometimes used to justify discrimination and assimilation. Ignoring differences of culture, custom, and environment, people readily dismissed the Ainu or Okinawans as 'dirty' simply because they didn't share the bathing customs of mainland Japan. 'In the colonies, efforts to promote assimilation and hygiene coexisted with discriminatory practices of apartness, including separate facilities for Japanese and the local population.' Cleanliness and Purity Kawabata says cleanliness was a process of eliminating anything that deviated from the norm, as a way of cleansing society of its 'impurities.' 'After the war, it gradually became common for people to have their own bath at home, and daily bathing became standard. Norms of cleanliness became even stronger than before the war, becoming internalized and almost unconscious.' These internalized norms can still surface across society even today. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was increased emphasis on mask-wearing and handwashing, and instances of exclusion and discrimination—such as the so-called 'self-restraint police' ( jishuku keisatsu) checking up on businesses and individuals, and in harassment directed at healthcare workers perceived as infection risks. 'In the early stages of the pandemic, when case numbers and fatalities were relatively low in Japan compared to the West, some politicians claimed that this was because of the superior public morals and hygiene of the Japanese. This was essentially a revival of the same logic used more than a century before, when Japan's victories against Russia and China were chalked up to the collective spirit and group harmony of the Japanese.' Looking back at the history of bathing and cleanliness reveals a whole range of issues: gender, government authority, discrimination, and exclusion. It can also prompt us to reconsider the values we often take for granted. (Originally written in Japanese by Kimie Itakura of and published on June 4, 2025. Banner image: Drawing of a public bath at Shimoda, Shizuoka, in 1854 by William Heine. Courtesy International Research Center for Japanese Studies.)
Asahi Shimbun
13 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Japanese climber dies on Peru's highest peak, another rescued
Mount Huascaran, the highest mountain in Peru (Provided by the Association of Peruvian Mountain Guides) SAO PAULO—A veteran Japanese mountain climber was declared dead in an accident atop Mount Huascaran, Peru's highest peak, while her partner has been confirmed safe. Chiaki Inada, 40, a doctor, became unable to move due to suspected hypothermia near the glacier-covered summit of the 6,768-meter-high mountain on June 24, according to Wilderness Medical Associates Japan, a group to which she belonged. Inada and her partner, Saki Terada, 35, contacted a private-sector rescue organization for help through satellite communications, the WMAJ said on June 26, based on information from local rescuers. The rescue team discovered the two on June 25, by which time Inada was no longer conscious. Rescuers and others later confirmed that she had died. Terada was able to walk down the mountain, accompanied by rescuers, as of the morning of June 26. WMAJ later said she has been admitted to a local hospital. Japan's Foreign Ministry is aware of the accident. WMAJ, which provides wilderness medical training, said both Inada and Terada were seasoned climbers and fully prepared for their latest expedition.
The Mainichi
18 hours ago
- The Mainichi
The Mainichi News Quiz Answer for June 27
What surprising correlation was identified by Japanese researchers between public libraries and elderly residents' health? A) Cities with more public library events had lower obesity rates. B) Municipalities with more library books had fewer residents requiring long-term nursing care. C) Areas with larger libraries had fewer people diagnosed with depression. D) Regions offering online library catalogs reported fewer senior hospitalizations. Correct Answer: B) Municipalities with more library books had fewer residents requiring long-term nursing care. Researchers from Keio University and Kyoto University found a surprising correlation: municipalities with more books in public libraries had fewer elderly residents requiring long-term nursing care. Using a survey tracking over 70,000 older adults across Japan for seven years, the researchers noted a previously unexamined connection between library resources and seniors' long-term health outcomes.
