The toilet is usually Japanese-style You dont sit on it but squat over it, facing the hooded end. Special slippers are usually provided for use only in the toilet cubicle. Before going into the communal bath, you undress in an anteroom, placing your robe and underclothing in a basket or shelf compartment. The inn gives you a hand-towel to drape over your midrift in the bathroom and this towel is also used for scrubbing and drying yourself. To take a bath, first sit on a low stool in front of a pair of hot/cold water faucets. Fill a bath pan with water, and pour it over your body to get soaking wet all over. If there are no taucets, use a bath pan to scoop water from the bath. If there is a shower, use this while seated on the stool, never standing up. Soap and rinse off thoroughly Only then do you get into the bath for a good soak.