Sunday, June 05, 2011

Ironing in Japan

A quick break from catching up on Dad's trip to introduce the art of Japanese ironing. I know that by posting these photos it will be revealed to all that I am not the perfect Japanese housewife in that I don't iron my husband's shirts... he doesn't even bother asking me anymore! This is a typical Japanese ironing board. It sits about 15cm off the ground and therefore involves a bit of flexibility to actually use it. My husband is 190cm tall (6ft3) and therefore ends up with his knees around his ears. His favorite style is actually the "squatting" style, but every time I tried to get a photo he would quickly sit on his bum. I know you can buy tall ironing boards, but it would be far less fun to watch him standing up to iron than his regular gymnastic poses! As for me... I am pretty hopeless at sitting on the floor to iron so choose clothes which need only to be folded.....

7 comments:

  1. I like to think there are a few reasons *my* wife might wish I was able to do more gymnastic poses. If I thought it would help I would be in the gym every day...

    Take advantage. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. God, I hated those teeny tiny ironing boards when I lived in Japan. You can imagine my excitement when we found a proper, life-sized one in a poky little shop in the town we moved to after we got married. Good for you, making your husband iron his own shirts. I lost that battle long ago, mainly because he was just so bloody hopeless at it when I tried to teach him.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:16 pm

    This was a cute post!! I don't iron either....Masaaki gave up and wears shirts that don't need ironing now. We had those same boards in Saipan- there were "real" ones but way too expensive. I put mine on the table top to use it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I loved this post Jo! For what it's worth, I don't iron either and neither does my husband. Luckily none of us need anything to be ironed though. ; )

    Though come to think of it, I had a pair of khaki capri pants that looked really wrinkled a few weeks ago. Which they usually never do. But I put them on hoping against hope they wouldn't "look" wrinkled after I put them on. Yes they did. ; ) So, I finally just admitted defeat and pulled them off, turned on the iron and laid out a big bath towel on the floor and ironed them. : )

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is why my husband can only have jobs that allow him to wear t-shirts! He usually only has to google how to tie a tie once every few years. Though we have a rush of special ocassions this year, still few enough to justify dry cleaning. He certainly wouldn't want to wear a shirt that either of us ironed!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Granny K irons hub's shirts and I don't have anything that needs ironing either. At least it's summer shirts now!

    ReplyDelete
  7. oh wow- and here I was thinking my dh was the only poor sod in Japan whose wife doesn't iron! At Amy's 2 1/2 yo checkup she picked up an iron and held it to her ear and said 'moshi moshi?' *^_^* I do think your Dh should make it easy for himself and put the ironing board on a table at least!

    ReplyDelete