Most Japanese apartments do not have garbage disposals. This in and of itself is not a problem for me as I grew up without the benefit of one. However, the plug/drain trap in sinks back home were stainless steel and small. They were easy to clean and empty after washing dishes by hand and finding food bits collected in them. In Japan, the traps are usually made out of plastic (and there is no stopper for the drain). Some of the drains are narrow and others are small but the traps are either super wide or super deep so there's always a lot of drain to trap contact. Whether they are wide and shallow or small and deep, the same thing always happens. They get disgusting and gunky where the plastic meets the drain pipe. No matter how much care you take, it will get slimy goop on it. The only way to stop it is to dump tons of bleach down the drain or buy special little bleach medallions (which are costly and only about 70% effective).
I won't miss having to deal with these poorly designed drain traps.
Posts
