The Japanese have to have the most amazing toilet technology on the planet. Seriously. They have taken a rather mundane and sometimes disgusting everyday object and made it into something almost beautiful and most certainly amazing. They may choose to save electricity by not having a clothes dryer — and consequently hanging clothes to dry on balconies or in their bathrooms, but they will not skimp on the electricity for their toilets!
This is the toilet in our hotel room. Yes… it has a heated seat (kind of a nice feature, actually.) Yes… it has an adjustable water spray AND a bidet. And this one has the added convenience — at least for us language-challenged foreigners — of having the controls written in English. Now, granted, no one NEEDS a toilet this fancy. In a pinch just about any old toilet will do the job, but these state-of-the-art-in-toilet-technology toilets are pretty nice… and interesting. A pleasant way to take care of the necessary human moments of out daily lives.
Like I have said before, the Japanese people are all about efficiency and utility. Yet… In this area, I would say they are almost over-the-top-extravagant. Certainly not all the toilets in this country are as posh as this one, and I will be talking about the “other options” I have experienced here, in later blog posts. There is a whole range of features available. At Tamachi (subway) Station near the restaurant court, the stalls in the women’s restroom have an electronic sensor that turns on waterfall and bird sounds as soon as you get close to the toilet — presumably to drown out other less pleasing sounds that may be heard. Some offer disinfectant wipes, or release bursts of air freshener into the stall areas. Our hotel toilet starts circulating the water to make the water sounds as soon as you sit on the seat. My husband, though, said that the men’s restroom at Tamachi has no such sound features. So… does that mean we women have more delicate and more easily offended sensibilities? Lol… The sociological discussion for the day.
Yes. This is an interesting place…
Four Years in Japan ... and now Three Years in London 