Japanese plumbing sucks... but it doesn’t drain very well

Warning: this post isn't for the squeamish. If you're the kind of person who can't even scoop the gunk out of the stopper in your kitchen sink, I suggest you stop reading now.

Still there? Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you.

This past Sunday I discovered a whole new world.  A multi-coloured world... of mould.  Yes, mould.  Let's see, we had grey, greenish-grey, blue, black, blue-black, orange, pink, and -- get ready for it -- a gooey, putrid white the likes of which I have never seen before. 

Where was this kaleidoscope land? In my bathroom; the drains mostly.

Before I go on, I should say that I am not a messy or dirty person. I keep my apartment tidier than most, and I clean regularly. It's just that I can't keep up with the plumbing here. In fact, it is quite possibly the one thing I truly HATE about my home in Japan.

I am used to certain things in a drain. I am used to metal pipes. I am used to airlocks and actual drainage. I am not used to plastic pipes with interlocking pieces that come apart and provide little nooks for things to grow. I am not used to constant pools of water that keep things wet and moist and collect scum just under where I stand to brush my teeth everyday.  I am not used to coming home from a holiday and smelling strange stinks because things have grown due to a lack of running water.  Appetizing, huh?

I spent at least two hours just cleaning the drains in my bathroom this weekend.  There are three.  The sink and the tub both connect to a larger one in the middle of the floor.  

The tub drain was the easiest to take care of. I keep a filter on it to prevent hair from going down, so it just needed a good scrub.  There was some mould inside, but it was all reachable with my sponge.  

The sink drain was horrible.  I removed the little metal filter with my fingers, only to discover a horrid, white slime.  It was inside the drain, coating two strange holes on the sides, just before the main pipe. It was almost a centimetre thick in some parts, smelly and it covered some more familiar blue-black stuff underneath. I had to scoop it out with my sponge. Gag!

The main drain was horrendous. I could see the black stuff around the top and lifted out the top cover to give it a good scrub, as I normally do. I was tipped off just days earlier to the fact that the drain could actually be taken apart even further and so after some investigating, I found that I could twist and lift the inner cylinder out. I was almost sorry I did. Inside, was the pool of never draining water full of grey sludge, and hair, and other things best left unidentified. The exterior of the cylinder was covered in some flaky grey stuff I could chip off. All of the pieces were given a good soak and scrub.  Anything that looked like it could be scooped out was, and tossed in a garbage bag.  I threw in several drain cleaning tablets and prayed.  

My bathroom is sparkling clean now.  But only for a few minutes, I'm sure.