Exploring The People’s Attitude and Behavior in The Toilets in Pakistan and Japan

Rao Nadeem Alam,Rie Kondo ,Null Author_Id

doi:10.52567/pjsr.v3i4.194

Abstract

This research is an effort to document and discover the difference in attitude and behavior towards toilets and usage in Pakistan and Japan. The aim of this comparative study was to show the similarity and variations of the attitude and behavior of the people in both countries clearly, in addition to it, the history of the development of toilet. The first part of this paper presents literature review which can bring forth the plausible factors that make people hesitant in discussion related to excretions. The second part presents the findings of the survey research based on questionnaire which included both open-end and close-end questions and was conducted with the people in both Pakistan and Japan. The results of two countries were quite contrasting. The last part of this paper includes the analysis. Response to questionnaire was refused by majority of the Pakistanis, whereas Japanese gladly participated in the survey. The results show that there is diversity of the attitude and variation in behavior about the usage of the toilet among participants. We may conclude that the sanitary condition are a major determinant of toilet usage and behavior among people. The significance of this research is that it deals with an under-researched area of mundane. People use toilet every day and it is indeed a universal aspect, however, people’s behavior in the toilets and attitudes toward toilets have not been investigated enough by social scientists. It is rare to find the comparative study of toilet itself and people’s behavior in the toilet in Pakistan and Japan. This research will help future researchers of anthropology and public hygiene. This research may also help to highlight the significance of public and private hygiene. Keywords: Hygiene, Japan, Pakistan, Toilets, Toilet Habbits, Toilet Behavior

Highlights

Personal experience of one of the authors, Rie Kondo, may be the best starting point, “When I relocated to Pakistan two and half years ago, one of my main concerns was about toilet
Various responses show that Japanese do variety of things in toilet, excretion and other activities such as using mobile, smoking cigarette, reading, and sleeping
Most of them use Western style toilet and they prefer it to Asian squatting style toilet; it is traditional style for Japanese though

Summary

Introduction

Personal experience of one of the authors, Rie Kondo, may be the best starting point, “When I relocated to Pakistan two and half years ago, one of my main concerns was about toilet. The drain of the toilet of my first apartment was clogged by the paper I used, so I had to pay 500 rupees to have it repaired.”. Looking back at our personal past experience, we used many kinds of toilets. I (Kondo) used toilet which was set on the river in Swat, and I heard people there saying that all the things in a stream of water are clean. I experienced pay toilet in a shopping center in London several years ago which I have never seen in Japan. Toilets are physical spaces where people just excrete, but we can regard that it is a

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Conclusion