Question

Compare and contrast bathing traditions in western Europe, Japan, and Southwest Asia.

Answer 1

The bathing traditions across the world differ from one another, and there's always a good reason behind it.

Western Europe's bathing tradition is pretty much in the sense of avoiding the bathing as much as possible. People were going for months without bathing. The reason behind that were the diseases, such as the plague, and it was well known that the less hygienic someone is, the lesser the chances of getting a disease because the body will be more resistant.

In Japan, the bathing tradition was seen as a must, as the Japanese had in their culture that they should always be clean, smell nicely, but also it was an act of purifying. So the bathing in Japan, very often with nice smelling plants, was a common thing.

In Southeast Asia, people very bathing constantly, mostly in the rivers and lakes. The reason for that was neither beauty and prestige, nor threat of diseases, but it was practical. The region is hot, the humidity high, so people were and still are bathing multiple times during the day in order to cool off.