What do you call it?
There are restrooms, water closets, latrines, washrooms, powder rooms, bathrooms, and just plain toilets. And a dozen more names like the John, the little boys room or the ladies room. The way a culture treats the bathroom and calls the bathroom tells us a lot about that culture and language.
Ancient Rome
In the English town of bath lies the replica of ancient roman baths. It's ironic these baths are more popular in England than Italy today. They value a warm bath.
Asian Bath Houses
In Asian culture bath houses have been around for centuries. Especially around the hot springs in places like Japan and Korea. In Korea it is still a family outing to go to the bath house together. Some of these places can be luxurious and beautiful.
But to really know a culture we should know what kind of bathrooms people deal with daily. What do people call the bathrooms locally and what do they look like? Remember how your dad yelled at you when you were little and said, "Don't get the bathroom floor wet!!" Well in Asia you don't have to worry about that. Every bathroom has a drain in the floor so the water can just pile up in the floor and then go out the drain. The good point is that it can save room. The bad point is that water can get everywhere.
This is how a bathroom in India works
This is a toilet in a public school in Korea
This is a new bathroom in a new apartment in Korea
They all have the drain in common
No matter where the water gets in the bathroom it goes down the drain. My kids like it because they can splash around a lot. In Korean the bathroom is mostly called "make up room" but also called "욕실". It's funny because this word is also spelled the same and sounds the same as the word for foul language.
When I first came to Korea I found some very difficult to use toilets but things have changed over the years. In general Americans are always surprised at the drain and the fact that there is no shower door or shower curtain. Just get it all wet and have fun because it all goes down the drain anyway.