Around the House

Before buying a magnetic rack, test the surface with a magnet you already own, then check there’s a free spot near where you’ll use it.

No room for wet towels? Five Japanese towel racks for small bathrooms, sorted by where they go: floor, towel bar, wall, ceiling or washer.

My dryer’s been broken for years. Here’s how laundry gets dry in my Japanese apartment, using the balcony, the bathing room and a rod above the washer.

A Japanese phrase for switching to smaller bath towels — what it means, the sizes in cm and inches, what a matched set costs to replace, and why I’m still deciding.

A no-drill jar shelf in a rented Japanese kitchen: two 2x4 tension posts, real measurements, how the shelf heights were set, and what to check first.

Four 20L pedal cans in 80cm (31.5in) of floor space. Real measurements from a kitchen in Japan, how to choose by width, and what to do when only one can fits.

Used towels need somewhere to wait before laundry day. A four-bar freestanding towel stand in a Japanese washroom — real measurements, and two things the listing doesn’t mention.

Why Japanese bathroom storage relies on magnets and tension rods: you can’t drill a hole in a rental wall here. What transfers to your home, and what doesn’t.

Japanese closet storage that works in a 60cm-deep closet — and the pieces that don’t translate to a Western home. Measured in my own apartment, not a showroom.