I designed a modern japanese house and failed to include a foyer, ot genkan in japanese. Nowadays, do people still include a genkan? or is it ok that i do not have this anymore? My main door opens up to the living.dining.
2007-01-13 16:42:00 · 9 answers · asked by Jacy G 2 in Travel ➔ Asia Pacific ➔ Japan
♡I would say NO it is not OK to omit the genkan in a Japanese house.
～As long as the custom to remove the shoes before entering a Japanese house exists, so will the genkan.
I live in a modern Japanese house here in Tokyo - I'm an American - and my house has a genkan. (I have never seen a house without one here.) So do all the NEW houses my friends live in. Whether you use the genkan or not does not matter, the Japanese people who come to your house will expect it. They will remove their shoes and put on slippers before entering your house. An adequate space must be provided for this custom.
Hope this helps!♡
2007-01-13 19:48:52 · answer #1 · answered by C 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you are designing the house for a non-Japanese family, sure, go ahead and omit it. Only non-Japanese people know how to live without a foyer. If you are designing the house for the Japanese market, No Way. It won't work. I just built a house in Japan, and we designed it ourself, with the help of the company we were contracting. I, being American, wanted to open up the living area so it would seem roomier and basically connect the genkan and the living room taking down the walls. My wife wouldn't have it. She needed to have the genkan, and I consider my wife to be very progressive, as a Japanese.
Although, I wouldn't discount the younger Japanese generation that are become more and more westernized. One of those couples might be interested in a genkanless house.
Good luck.
2007-01-14 01:12:38 · answer #2 · answered by Looking for the truth... 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh man, if I ever moved back to the States, the two things I'd remodel my house for is a Japanese genkan and a Japanese bath. You should include a genkan even in your Western houses! It's such a great idea!
In fact, it's often called a mudroom in many houses.
The genkan is a semi-public space where people can receive visitors in a warm place, but not actually invite them into their home (if they choose).
It should be a convenient place for taking off shoes (and should have good storage for shoes and boots), and coats, and leaving umbrellas. There should be a shelf for flowers and other knick-knacks that say "welcome" to the visitor.
It should have two sets of doors. This helps preserve the house's heat in the colder climates, and it helps with the privacy issues, as well as noise issues.
A genkan can be smallish (maybe five foot by five foot) or it can be quite large -- our back genkan is something like 15 by 15 I think, and allows our farm family to change and store clothes back there.
I LOVE the genkan.
You can fake a genkan by setting up a shoe-shelf that sections off a little bit of the living room -- and maybe build/place a coat closet/armoire on the other side of the shoe-shelf. The genkan should have different flooring -- and the genkan flooring should be easy to clean. Even a mat or small area carpet would be enough to define the area.
But really, you'd be better off putting in a proper genkan.
Additional comment: I had to come back. I don't think you understand the enormity of what you are asking. It's like if some Japanese architect came and said, "I'm building these houses for America, but I forgot to put in a shower. No shower stall, no shower in the tub, nada. Sheesh, you really need one? How about a little hand jobbie, then?"
It's cultural hygeine. You'd have an easier time selling a house without a shower in Japan than you would a house without a genkan. I've *lived* in several houses with just the hand jobbie, and I know of others that never ever had a shower. It's a luxury in Japan. Just like the genkan is a luxury in the US, but an absolute necessity in Japan. Hope I'm not putting that too strongly, but it really, really is necessary.
2007-01-13 20:35:02 · answer #3 · answered by Madame M 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
every single house has a genkan and even the tiny apartments have a genkan. Trust me I have gone door to door and stood in about 40,000 of them. Some are tiny, barely enough for 2 people to stand, but some of the bigger, older houses, have huge genkans you could lie in. I was in Hokkaido were 2-3 layered windows and a genkan is a must.
2007-01-13 21:25:35 · answer #4 · answered by twikfat 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Once you have used a genkan, you will never go back. Not only is it practical, it's a psychological barrier between the inside and outside.
I have never seen a Japanese house without a genkan. Even the crappiest apt has a genkan.
2007-01-17 04:01:08 · answer #5 · answered by tiger lou 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The genkan is where shoes are removed and slippers put on. It helps to keep a cleaner house. Without it, your guests could just trek wherever they please in shoes dirtied from the outside and ruin the carpet (and perhaps even the tatami mats if you dared bring them into the room). It's customary to include one and perferably lower than the rest of the house at that.
2007-01-13 18:11:36 · answer #6 · answered by Belie 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Japanese Genkan
2016-12-11 15:31:58 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes they do. They have it in every house i've been to.
2007-01-13 16:58:32 · answer #8 · answered by ichiban_chad 1 · 2⤊ 1⤋
If there's no genkan, where would you leave your shoes?
2007-01-13 21:27:35 · answer #9 · answered by michinoku2001 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋