Japan's toilets are a study in extremes. On the one hand you have the old fashioned, hole-in-the-ground type. This 'squatter' here was in some train station that shall remain nameless and no, I'm not responsible for the mess. As for myself, I only use a squatter when it's an emergency. Besides being a pain in the knees, I still haven't quite got the hang of angling myself properly to uh... aim correctly. Luckily for me, the Japanese decided to improve on the Western version. Imagine if you will, a toilet that has a built in bidet with adjustable temperature, spray strength and spray angle settings. Others have built in air dryers (but I find they just take too long). The 'washlet' (as it's called) in picture 2 is just your average sprayer (yawn), nothing fancy built in like background music to cover up any unpleasant noises you might make. Seriously though, some of the new ones have more buttons that your TV remote. Unfortunately I couldn't get a shot of the sprayer in action. It only works when you're sitting down. Sitting down and then jumping up when it started resulted in me, my camera and the cubicle wall getting wet. So what's next? Well soon these toilets will be analyzing your urine and stools for all sorts of problems and diseases, and then telling you exactly what's wrong with you, saving you the hassle of going to the doctor. Here's to modern technology!
Japan's toilets are a study in extremes. On the one hand you have the old fashioned, hole-in-the-ground type. This 'squatter' here was in some train station that shall remain nameless and no, I'm not responsible for the mess. As for myself, I only use a squatter when it's an emergency. Besides being a pain in the knees, I still haven't quite got the hang of angling myself properly to uh... aim correctly. Luckily for me, the Japanese decided to improve on the Western version. Imagine if you will, a toilet that has a built in bidet with adjustable temperature, spray strength and spray angle settings. Others have built in air dryers (but I find they just take too long). The 'washlet' (as it's called) in picture 2 is just your average sprayer (yawn), nothing fancy built in like background music to cover up any unpleasant noises you might make. Seriously though, some of the new ones have more buttons that your TV remote. Unfortunately I couldn't get a shot of the sprayer in action. It only works when you're sitting down. Sitting down and then jumping up when it started resulted in me, my camera and the cubicle wall getting wet. So what's next? Well soon these toilets will be analyzing your urine and stools for all sorts of problems and diseases, and then telling you exactly what's wrong with you, saving you the hassle of going to the doctor. Here's to modern technology! 