After using the toilet, do you wash your hands, or just wipe them?
You've just demonstrated why washing toilets are superior. I cannot understand our misplaced, hollow pride in not adopting something which simply works better. I've even heard some especially crazy people try to say the japanese toilets are "perverted" - the hold tradition has on some people is just insane.
Japanese toilets are simply better. For some bizarre reason we've resisted adopting them here. It boggles the mind.
Installation involved adding a T-adapter to my sink's cold water line. The whole setup takes about 5-10 minutes if you know what you're doing, or about 30 if you don't. Even if you know nothing about plumbing, you can install this thing with some patience (and probably in well under an hour).
I've been very happy overall. There are lots of similar bidets for varying prices, but the core functionality can be had for $25. I haven't felt the desire to spend any more, this thing just works.
We go through a lot less toilet paper, though we still use some for the drying. This may be too much information, but I do feel subjectively much cleaner. When we travel somewhere without a bidet, it's definitely on the edge of my mind that I miss my setup at home.
I do get weird looks when we have company, but who cares. Continue smearing poop on your butts, heathens.
I also used to think of Japanese toilets as weird , and overly complex for the task (that may be partially true) but after buying a 35 dollar bidet attachment for my apartment toilet, using any other bathroom feels barbaric. I've resorted to carrying moist wipes when out of town, but even those are a far cry from the efficiency and cleanliness afforded by a washlet/bidet.
I would love for the rest of the country to get over whatever biases or anxiety keeps us from mainstream adoption of an objectively superior system for bathroom hygiene.
the hold tradition has on some people is just insane.
My quarter-Japanese wife won't let me get one - but of course she was raised in America. And TMI, but I've had a doctor specifically recommend one (or cheap bidet setup) for hemorrhoids.
> Japanese toilets are simply better. For some bizarre reason we've resisted adopting them here. It boggles the mind.
That's not true. One major reason we don't adopt them is the cost of installation. If you have an existing house, chances are there's not an electrical outlet next to the toilet. Why is is important? Because Japanese toilets require power. Why does this suck? Electricians are not keen on working on bathrooms because of all the pre-existing pipes, so to do the job right, they'll probably have to rip off all the walls. Once the electricians are done, you probably have to hire a bathroom remodeler to fix everything up, because again not many licensed people are keen on working on the bathroom unless they specialize in it.
The reason you wash your hands is so that you don't spread pathogens to yourself and others. As far as I can tell, that's not the primary reason you wipe your behind.
I wash my hands because I use them to interact with the world and to eat. Keeping them clean is necessary.
The day I push an elevator button or place food in my mouth using my soiled anus is the day I agree washing it constantly is required and not just pleasant.
Here's the reason it sounds weird to those (like me) that haven't tried: your hands don't have a source of, er, soil, tucked into them in a crevice. So getting them as wet as you like doesn't have any downside.
I've used a Japanese toilet and for me the hand washing facility attached to it is meaningless as I do not understand why would anyone ever wash their hands with cold water. Especially I do not understand people who simply wash their hands by dipping them into cold water for a second.
But maybe the culture of washing hands with warm water and soap is merely in North Europe. And maybe I am illusioned by the effectiveness of warm water.
> Japanese toilets are simply better. For some bizarre reason we've resisted adopting them here. It boggles the mind.
They are not cheap in Japan, by the way. If you buy a new apartment they are included by default(these companies work like Mafia to secure contracts with new apartment complex builders), but new ones you buy directly from TOTO are like... "what?" when you see their prices.
Do you use soap to wash your hands? or just rinse them off with water (especially if you happened to get a little on you)?
Do you then pick up your chicken wings or pork ribs with your butt cheeks and stick them into your mouth, proceeding to lick off the excess sauce/grease?
I have just demonstrated why your example has a complete lack of logic or value.
FWIW, I use a baby wipe. This uses less water and about the same amount of paper. it actually does a little better job, is quicker and far more economical. My toilet will last 40 years with about 10% of the purchase and maintenance costs. I also carry wipes around to use in public restrooms so while you may get clean at home, I get clean on the road as well.
I mainly do this because I have itching/chapping issues if I don't.
These are essentially telephone showers installed next to the toilet. You switch them on using a valve/trigger and then manually direct the fire. Simple, cheap and no fuss.
This little guy, however, turned out to be a closet fire hose. It pretty much went from 0 to 1000 gallons per sec in an instant and just wouldn't let up, the valve was stuck. The extension cord was twisting and coiling around like crazy with the released pressure, the shower head was going at full blast in my hand, initially directed at my rear, it was continuously pushing my hand away from anything that I was trying to point it to, it give me a visceral understanding of how jet engines work.
Working out a sequence of operations in my head to get out of such a situation while caught in a compromised and inflexible position, with only one hand free, was quite a challenge. I am not quite sure if I should be thankful that it wasnt autonomously powered and directed.
My first Japanese toilet experience happened @ Google (I was interning there at that time). When the water touched the derriere, it made me flinch and jump with surprise, as I wasnt quite sure what to expect, this was several years ago and Japanese toilets were still an unfamiliar opbject to me. And it really tickles the shit out of you ! (no pun intended) I guess there are ways to choose between a laminar and degrees of non laminar flow (all those controls must be for something), I would expect the former to be somewhat less flinch inducing.
This is one of those things that long-time expats that live in Japan often take back with them when they leave. Another is the practice of removing your (utterly filthy, inevitably) outdoor shoes when you enter the house.
I read Shogun as a kid (great book, for a little kid) and going back home to the USA and using the toilet there always reminds me of the scenes where the European sailors that shipwrecked in Japan sit around scratching their fleas and scoffing at the Japs' grotesque habit of bathing every day... gross
Canadians don't wear their shoes indoors either. Because of tracking melting snow indoors (so the habit sticks any other time), or the less comfortable shoes due to such weather, and probably because homes in colder climates are heated a little better, so shoes get uncomfortably hot.
But it just makes sense, even in dry summer weather. Or is it blasting AC that makes shoes necessary?
> the European sailors that shipwrecked in Japan sit around scratching their fleas and scoffing at the Japs' grotesque habit of bathing every day... gross
Well on a ship you certainly can't wash yourself every day. And even in Europe, there was a lack of running water to wash yourself as often as you wanted. Japan has tons of rivers everywhere and is one of the richest country in terms of river water - and you can add onsen (hot springs) on top of that which provides free warm water to those living nearby. It's easy to criticize people of old, but they lived in very different conditions than we do, and Japanese had as much water as they wanted hence they developed that everyday washing culture.
Yet, Japan is actually importing water from other countries because they can't even meet their needs anymore in water supply - so the Japan model is not sustainable if you think about it this way. The consumption of water is among the highest worldwide (not just for bathing, but also washing clothes etc...) so it you applied the same model everywhere else you'd run out of water very fast in most countries.
If you remove your shoes outside and walk barefoot, you're just sharing the sweat, dirt & germs of your foot with everyone else at home & guests. You'll probably take that to bed with you and sometimes sleep on it. If you must leave your shoes outside, wear an 'inside-only' slippers.
In India, you buy separate rubber slippers/American beach slippers (2$) for the washroom, and a separate one for the house. We don't really stress our feet with closed shoes inside the house. No one's watching you anyway.
Only winters, is the in-house rubber slippers (not the washroom ones) are changed with warm slippers.
A few years ago we had to call an ambulance for a medical emergency for a family member (in Tokyo). When the ambulance came, all three EMT workers dutifully slipped their shoes off as they came in. They all had old sneakers so loosely laced that they were basically slippers.
Slip-on shoes are basically a must-have thing in Japan.
When I first came to Thailand, I was appalled when one of my friends told me the pistol nozzle (like we use in the US for doing dishes) next to every Thai toilet[1] was for spraying yourself after using the bathroom.
This was disgusting to me at first.
Echoing a few other comments, I feel like a bidet is something you have to experience yourself before you trust it. Once you do though, I think you are forever changed.
On my last trip back to the states, I remember feeling perpetually disgusted that all I had to clean myself with was paper. It's disgusting - barbaric even... you're just smearing waste all over yourself.
If you don't feel like spending the money to install a Japanese bidet, a Thai "bum gun" might be a more wallet-friendly option.
Same situation for me in Cambodia. It wasn't until I ran out of toilet paper one time that I caved in and tried the "bum gun". Now it's my preference for sure, cleaner and quicker too.
One thing I haven't really understood is why exactly is a Indian toilet seat seen as inferior to the English toilet seat.
- True that the English seat occupies less space, but its adoption has not always been based on space savings.
- True that sitting appears more gentleman like, rather than sitting half subtended in air, but hey who is watching?
- True that elderly find the english version easier to use because of the supporting nature of the seat, but its not a hard rule. A hybrid of both (Anglo-Indian) seat is more suited to them, and ailing patients.
- The Indian version is more hygienic, as no part of your body directly touches any part of the seat. Besides superior genital cleanliness over time due to wider leg positions.
- The Indian version is decisively easier to clean/maintain compared to the English version.
- Moreover the Indian version, is more suited to over-weight people than a English version.
- And relatively, due to its production in labor intensive market such as India/China, the Indian version is cost-efficient, suited for developing nations, who still have a fairly large population that needs proper sanitation structures.
And another thing that gets overlooked is that the toilet is always in a separate room from the rest of the bathroom (washbasin and tub). It seems weird at first that you have to go down the hall into a phonebooth-sized compartment to do your business. But then you go back to visit family in America and can't stop noticing that you poop 3 feet away from where you brush your teeth...
These 'washlet' toilet seats can be retro-fitted to normal toilets. It's really easy as long as the flush-water inlet to your toilet has a standard fitting. Oh, and assuming you have a suitable power socket near the toilet. The manual recommends a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) socket.
There are also cheaper compromises that only replace the toilet lid instead of the entire toilet and without requiring a hot water line. I bought this version last year for $250 but it's $350 now:
I was about to sleep but definitely had to add my contribution to bum washing. Most Indian toilets have a water faucet next to your seat. You always wash with water using your left hand(Right one is reserved for more auspicious occasions like eating food or shaking hands). I still remember the horror of my first trip to US and finding that you have to use rough sheets of paper to essentially scrath it off. But on the flip side, toilets in India are always damp and dirty with filthy cess pools of mold and .... God help you if you ever have to use a public toilet in India.
You will probably hate me for giving some graphic details but I had never used Toilet paper for the first 21 years of my life.(I am 22 BTW). I didn't even use a bidet. Just my left hand and water. I know this might be considered very disgusting but it is very common from where I am.
I don't know if this is the way the future is going to pan out - water is an increasingly scarce resource and, as it is, we waste a gallon or so of water to lift one's leavings up and over the u-bend.
Of all people Bill Gates is probably the expert on what toilets will really be like in the future, allegedly water, toilets, sanitation and health is something he is most interested in.
Personally, although I am not into 'standing desks' I am into 'standing toilets', as in the humble urinal. One's aim is easier and there is no seat to remember to put down for the next user. Less water is wasted. I would want one at home so as to avoid 'female complaints' regarding the state of things. Ideally the outflow from the adjacent sink would keep it clean so water wastage really would be minimal. It would be in a room of its own, a very small room with no need for anyone female to ever enter it.
I recently replaced an extractor fan in a bathroom. I thought that a quiet fan would be preferable and I was disappointed with the noise made. However, then I realised the real purpose of the fan, it is to make noise to disguise the sound of one leaving one's leavings. I believe that the Japanese toilets have some of this functionality too. Can anyone confirm that?
I suppose it depends on where you live. If you live in Arizona it might end up being an issue due to the energy cost of processing the water for reuse. However, if you live in Chicago you aren't going to have a shortage of water anytime soon.
I don't really get these water shortage scares people talk about. I can see how it is an issue in remote/poor areas around the world, but a country like the US has nothing to worry about. If fresh water reserves get low we can always desalinate seawater. There are engineering challenges and energy costs to do that, but both are solvable issues. No one is going to die from thirst.
A lot of the Japanese toilets have water saving mechanisms where the water that fills the toilet is used for a small sink on the top of the toilet to wash your hands.
I agree that there are more ways that we should be conserving water, and we are beginning to see more toilets with a small or large flush function (which almost all Japanese toilets have as well).
As for your question about the noise function in Japanese toilets, fancy bathrooms sometimes have a noise function to cover up the noise of using the bathroom. Most normally it is a recording of a toilet flushing, but some other more "luxurious" ones have little jingles that play when you hit a button.
This seems interesting. It looks like a regular sports bottle. The comments on that item suggest there are more and smaller holes than a single large opening, for a better flow for this application. Is that the only difference?
How does one use it? Is there a straw inside that draws from the bottom of the bottle? Do you need to position it upright, or upside down?
These two seem more natural to use, If you didn't have your bottle already, would one of these be more interesting?
Japanese (and increasingly Korean) toilets are amazing. I love visiting my in-laws and just using their toilets and feeling unbelievably civilized.
My wife, refuses to get one, or even the fancy seat attachments because...tbh...they're freaking expensive. I can basically refit all the toilets in my house for less than the discount price for a single seat...and that's not including the cost of the electrician to put a power source near just one of my toilets.
There's also lots of research in her home country that women shouldn't use the bidets in these toilets for various reasons particular to their anatomy.
To compare, a Glacier Bay 2-piece high efficiency dual flush elongated toilet is <$100 at my local home depot.
Toto Washlet S350e seat with heated seat and warm water bidet is $1,700. I frequently see cheaper Korean versions at my local Asian Market for $800-1200. I saw one at Costco for $650 the other day.
If they want to penetrate the market, they need to drop the price significantly, corner the market, then start cranking the price up faster than inflation.
In case anyone was curious, ビデ is read as "bidet" (i.e. squirt water up your ass).
This among the many reasons why it's helpful to at least learn to read kana before visiting, as it makes a lot of things easier--there are an awful lot of English words written in kana that you can decipher (well, French in this particular case, but you get the point I hope).
Actually bidet button is usually for women, I wouldn't advise pressing it unless you are one, or you will get a blast of water significantly forward of the desired target. おしり(oshiri) is the button thats useful to both sexes.
Toto makes travel washlets. Imagining travel without one is like trying to remember how we used to code before Google and Stackoverflow: yes we did it, for sure, but I just can't fathom how. It's also a relatively cheap and easy way to get acquianted with this nice facet of civilization. There are other travel washlets, not made by Toto, skip those. Search eBay for toto travel washlet, less than $100 shipped.
I had a particularly bad day at a London client onsite and out of sheer desperation Googled for travel washlet (I have one normal at home and was missing it badly), not that I had any idea how you would even construct one but lo and behold, there it is.
I would imagine peri bottles (or close enough, any kind of squeeze bottle) would do something similar in a pinch. I've only heard girlfriends with kids rave about them since it's usually only used after pregnancy, but (to be a bit TMI) pre-IUD years when I had periods, travel squeeze bottles totally saved the day for when wet wipes felt inadequate and I couldn't easily shower.
I wonder what the effect on overall hygiene is? I wash my hands after every bowl movement, in total (shower, etc) I wash them every 5 hours.
Will people now wash their hands less?
Washing your butt so it's clean = yeah, that's pretty cool.
Eating the right food (and being lucky to have good digestion) so that normally the paper you wipe with comes up white = priceless.
Of course you'll have to wash your hands, but still, we're not hardwired to make a mess every time we defecate. Maybe you could say that's excessive smoke indicating the engine isn't running right. Japanese toilets aren't a fix, they're a workaround.
By the way "bidet" is a french word in the first place and it has nothing to do with washing your arse :) Bidets are small bathtubs-shaped vessels where you actually wash your feet. The reason they existed is because in the past people didn't wash their whole body every single day, and instead they cleaned at least the most dirty / odorant parts of their bodies this way, more often.
Actually, the "bidet" is an invention from the early 1700s that was specifically designed to wash intimate parts. The etymology of the word indicates that the bidet is something one rides, by analogy with a small horse.
FWIW this was one of the 'tour questions' on Google which had (at least when I was there) several bathrooms equipped with washlets. It really is a nice thing, and one of the engineers put a WattsUp meter on one to see if it was wasting power (answer quite economical). Of course in California using water to wash yourself in a drought is probably the wrong thing to do ...
I tried, liked and missed Japanese toilets. I certainly wasn't going to be installing a $1000 Toto in my house, but I waited too long to take a chance on a cheap bidet. For <$50 you can get a bidet on Amazon which, though little more than a valve and a spout, works pretty well.
On reading that it seems like you use paper still. I didnt realise this. Do you use the normal paper before or after the water? Seems like after water and drying to me, but potentially much less?
Also, does it do away with the need for women wiping after a pee?
Never been to Japan, but from description its the same type of toilets they have in South Korea.
Yeah, feel much cleaner, I wonder how is it hard to get same setup in US
This guy uses the bidet before wiping? Whenever I'm in Japan I wipe before bidet, that way at least the initial blast of water doesn't spread too much gunk.
The water is sprayed from a wand. The wand automatically retracts into itself when not in use. When retracting and/or expanding, it washes itself. You never touch the want, and it's not expanded when you're doing your business, only afterwards when you turn on the spray.
enko|12 years ago
You've just demonstrated why washing toilets are superior. I cannot understand our misplaced, hollow pride in not adopting something which simply works better. I've even heard some especially crazy people try to say the japanese toilets are "perverted" - the hold tradition has on some people is just insane.
Japanese toilets are simply better. For some bizarre reason we've resisted adopting them here. It boggles the mind.
gtaylor|12 years ago
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TPGPUW/
Installation involved adding a T-adapter to my sink's cold water line. The whole setup takes about 5-10 minutes if you know what you're doing, or about 30 if you don't. Even if you know nothing about plumbing, you can install this thing with some patience (and probably in well under an hour).
I've been very happy overall. There are lots of similar bidets for varying prices, but the core functionality can be had for $25. I haven't felt the desire to spend any more, this thing just works.
We go through a lot less toilet paper, though we still use some for the drying. This may be too much information, but I do feel subjectively much cleaner. When we travel somewhere without a bidet, it's definitely on the edge of my mind that I miss my setup at home.
I do get weird looks when we have company, but who cares. Continue smearing poop on your butts, heathens.
ewoodrich|12 years ago
I would love for the rest of the country to get over whatever biases or anxiety keeps us from mainstream adoption of an objectively superior system for bathroom hygiene.
npsimons|12 years ago
My quarter-Japanese wife won't let me get one - but of course she was raised in America. And TMI, but I've had a doctor specifically recommend one (or cheap bidet setup) for hemorrhoids.
chrismonsanto|12 years ago
Using an American toilet in 2014 is like programming your next web app in classic ASP. Time to upgrade.
chaostheory|12 years ago
That's not true. One major reason we don't adopt them is the cost of installation. If you have an existing house, chances are there's not an electrical outlet next to the toilet. Why is is important? Because Japanese toilets require power. Why does this suck? Electricians are not keen on working on bathrooms because of all the pre-existing pipes, so to do the job right, they'll probably have to rip off all the walls. Once the electricians are done, you probably have to hire a bathroom remodeler to fix everything up, because again not many licensed people are keen on working on the bathroom unless they specialize in it.
baddox|12 years ago
andsosayallofus|12 years ago
The day I push an elevator button or place food in my mouth using my soiled anus is the day I agree washing it constantly is required and not just pleasant.
afterburner|12 years ago
azatris|12 years ago
But maybe the culture of washing hands with warm water and soap is merely in North Europe. And maybe I am illusioned by the effectiveness of warm water.
edit:// English correction
ekianjo|12 years ago
They are not cheap in Japan, by the way. If you buy a new apartment they are included by default(these companies work like Mafia to secure contracts with new apartment complex builders), but new ones you buy directly from TOTO are like... "what?" when you see their prices.
fakeanon|12 years ago
NextUserName|12 years ago
Do you then pick up your chicken wings or pork ribs with your butt cheeks and stick them into your mouth, proceeding to lick off the excess sauce/grease?
I have just demonstrated why your example has a complete lack of logic or value.
FWIW, I use a baby wipe. This uses less water and about the same amount of paper. it actually does a little better job, is quicker and far more economical. My toilet will last 40 years with about 10% of the purchase and maintenance costs. I also carry wipes around to use in public restrooms so while you may get clean at home, I get clean on the road as well.
I mainly do this because I have itching/chapping issues if I don't.
srean|12 years ago
These are essentially telephone showers installed next to the toilet. You switch them on using a valve/trigger and then manually direct the fire. Simple, cheap and no fuss.
This little guy, however, turned out to be a closet fire hose. It pretty much went from 0 to 1000 gallons per sec in an instant and just wouldn't let up, the valve was stuck. The extension cord was twisting and coiling around like crazy with the released pressure, the shower head was going at full blast in my hand, initially directed at my rear, it was continuously pushing my hand away from anything that I was trying to point it to, it give me a visceral understanding of how jet engines work.
Working out a sequence of operations in my head to get out of such a situation while caught in a compromised and inflexible position, with only one hand free, was quite a challenge. I am not quite sure if I should be thankful that it wasnt autonomously powered and directed.
My first Japanese toilet experience happened @ Google (I was interning there at that time). When the water touched the derriere, it made me flinch and jump with surprise, as I wasnt quite sure what to expect, this was several years ago and Japanese toilets were still an unfamiliar opbject to me. And it really tickles the shit out of you ! (no pun intended) I guess there are ways to choose between a laminar and degrees of non laminar flow (all those controls must be for something), I would expect the former to be somewhat less flinch inducing.
veidr|12 years ago
I read Shogun as a kid (great book, for a little kid) and going back home to the USA and using the toilet there always reminds me of the scenes where the European sailors that shipwrecked in Japan sit around scratching their fleas and scoffing at the Japs' grotesque habit of bathing every day... gross
afterburner|12 years ago
But it just makes sense, even in dry summer weather. Or is it blasting AC that makes shoes necessary?
ekianjo|12 years ago
Well on a ship you certainly can't wash yourself every day. And even in Europe, there was a lack of running water to wash yourself as often as you wanted. Japan has tons of rivers everywhere and is one of the richest country in terms of river water - and you can add onsen (hot springs) on top of that which provides free warm water to those living nearby. It's easy to criticize people of old, but they lived in very different conditions than we do, and Japanese had as much water as they wanted hence they developed that everyday washing culture.
Yet, Japan is actually importing water from other countries because they can't even meet their needs anymore in water supply - so the Japan model is not sustainable if you think about it this way. The consumption of water is among the highest worldwide (not just for bathing, but also washing clothes etc...) so it you applied the same model everywhere else you'd run out of water very fast in most countries.
enscr|12 years ago
kiba|12 years ago
rikacomet|12 years ago
Only winters, is the in-house rubber slippers (not the washroom ones) are changed with warm slippers.
po|12 years ago
Slip-on shoes are basically a must-have thing in Japan.
joyeuse6701|12 years ago
ragle|12 years ago
This was disgusting to me at first.
Echoing a few other comments, I feel like a bidet is something you have to experience yourself before you trust it. Once you do though, I think you are forever changed.
On my last trip back to the states, I remember feeling perpetually disgusted that all I had to clean myself with was paper. It's disgusting - barbaric even... you're just smearing waste all over yourself.
If you don't feel like spending the money to install a Japanese bidet, a Thai "bum gun" might be a more wallet-friendly option.
[1] - http://thatluckyboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/bum_gun_t...
tricolon|12 years ago
llllllllllll|12 years ago
rikacomet|12 years ago
- True that the English seat occupies less space, but its adoption has not always been based on space savings.
- True that sitting appears more gentleman like, rather than sitting half subtended in air, but hey who is watching?
- True that elderly find the english version easier to use because of the supporting nature of the seat, but its not a hard rule. A hybrid of both (Anglo-Indian) seat is more suited to them, and ailing patients.
- The Indian version is more hygienic, as no part of your body directly touches any part of the seat. Besides superior genital cleanliness over time due to wider leg positions.
- The Indian version is decisively easier to clean/maintain compared to the English version.
- Moreover the Indian version, is more suited to over-weight people than a English version.
- And relatively, due to its production in labor intensive market such as India/China, the Indian version is cost-efficient, suited for developing nations, who still have a fairly large population that needs proper sanitation structures.
enscr|12 years ago
Although sitting for longer than 5 minutes is painful and gets worse with age.
wting|12 years ago
http://demenglog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/toilet-seat-...
hudibras|12 years ago
rahimnathwani|12 years ago
These 'washlet' toilet seats can be retro-fitted to normal toilets. It's really easy as long as the flush-water inlet to your toilet has a standard fitting. Oh, and assuming you have a suitable power socket near the toilet. The manual recommends a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) socket.
ewoodrich|12 years ago
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001KKRCFA/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=...
I have a similar one and it works great (though it's not as luxuroius as a Toto).
alphakappa|12 years ago
Bio Bidet is one of them (BB1000). Stateside, there's Brondell (I recommend the Swash1000) but my preference is for Bio Bidet.
wting|12 years ago
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005XNW1Q0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...
impendia|12 years ago
Wow! What do these do? I bent over the toilet bowl and pushed a button at random...
w00kie|12 years ago
visarga|12 years ago
harichinnan|12 years ago
CGudapati|12 years ago
MarkTee|12 years ago
Theodores|12 years ago
I don't know if this is the way the future is going to pan out - water is an increasingly scarce resource and, as it is, we waste a gallon or so of water to lift one's leavings up and over the u-bend.
Of all people Bill Gates is probably the expert on what toilets will really be like in the future, allegedly water, toilets, sanitation and health is something he is most interested in.
Personally, although I am not into 'standing desks' I am into 'standing toilets', as in the humble urinal. One's aim is easier and there is no seat to remember to put down for the next user. Less water is wasted. I would want one at home so as to avoid 'female complaints' regarding the state of things. Ideally the outflow from the adjacent sink would keep it clean so water wastage really would be minimal. It would be in a room of its own, a very small room with no need for anyone female to ever enter it.
I recently replaced an extractor fan in a bathroom. I thought that a quiet fan would be preferable and I was disappointed with the noise made. However, then I realised the real purpose of the fan, it is to make noise to disguise the sound of one leaving one's leavings. I believe that the Japanese toilets have some of this functionality too. Can anyone confirm that?
Taylorious|12 years ago
I don't really get these water shortage scares people talk about. I can see how it is an issue in remote/poor areas around the world, but a country like the US has nothing to worry about. If fresh water reserves get low we can always desalinate seawater. There are engineering challenges and energy costs to do that, but both are solvable issues. No one is going to die from thirst.
AustinGrandt|12 years ago
I agree that there are more ways that we should be conserving water, and we are beginning to see more toilets with a small or large flush function (which almost all Japanese toilets have as well).
As for your question about the noise function in Japanese toilets, fancy bathrooms sometimes have a noise function to cover up the noise of using the bathroom. Most normally it is a recording of a toilet flushing, but some other more "luxurious" ones have little jingles that play when you hit a button.
smokey_the_bear|12 years ago
http://www.amazon.com/Lavette-Bottle-Perineal-Irrigation-DYN...
It's an even cheaper alternative to the cold water attachment, it's portable, and you can fill it with warm water.
AjithAntony|12 years ago
How does one use it? Is there a straw inside that draws from the bottom of the bottle? Do you need to position it upright, or upside down?
These two seem more natural to use, If you didn't have your bottle already, would one of these be more interesting?
http://www.amazon.com/Hygienna-Solo-Portable-Cleaning-Soluti... http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Bidet-BB-20-Portable/dp/B004IW5IT...
bane|12 years ago
My wife, refuses to get one, or even the fancy seat attachments because...tbh...they're freaking expensive. I can basically refit all the toilets in my house for less than the discount price for a single seat...and that's not including the cost of the electrician to put a power source near just one of my toilets.
There's also lots of research in her home country that women shouldn't use the bidets in these toilets for various reasons particular to their anatomy.
To compare, a Glacier Bay 2-piece high efficiency dual flush elongated toilet is <$100 at my local home depot.
Toto Washlet S350e seat with heated seat and warm water bidet is $1,700. I frequently see cheaper Korean versions at my local Asian Market for $800-1200. I saw one at Costco for $650 the other day.
If they want to penetrate the market, they need to drop the price significantly, corner the market, then start cranking the price up faster than inflation.
Natsu|12 years ago
This among the many reasons why it's helpful to at least learn to read kana before visiting, as it makes a lot of things easier--there are an awful lot of English words written in kana that you can decipher (well, French in this particular case, but you get the point I hope).
ranebo|12 years ago
jonahx|12 years ago
Whatever else you want to say about them, they are closer to the UNIX tradition than Japanese toilets.
drderidder|12 years ago
dagurp|12 years ago
chx|12 years ago
I had a particularly bad day at a London client onsite and out of sheer desperation Googled for travel washlet (I have one normal at home and was missing it badly), not that I had any idea how you would even construct one but lo and behold, there it is.
silencio|12 years ago
unknown|12 years ago
[deleted]
rikthevik|12 years ago
frozenport|12 years ago
PavlovsCat|12 years ago
Washing your butt so it's clean = yeah, that's pretty cool.
Eating the right food (and being lucky to have good digestion) so that normally the paper you wipe with comes up white = priceless.
Of course you'll have to wash your hands, but still, we're not hardwired to make a mess every time we defecate. Maybe you could say that's excessive smoke indicating the engine isn't running right. Japanese toilets aren't a fix, they're a workaround.
ekianjo|12 years ago
mkempe|12 years ago
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bidet http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet_(meuble)
ChuckMcM|12 years ago
LVB|12 years ago
gtaylor|12 years ago
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TPGPUW/
ntaso|12 years ago
How do you make sure that the water doesn't merely distribute your feces all over your butt?
How do women prevent that feces get sprayed onto or even into their vagina, since the water seems to be coming from the rear side of the toilet?
gggggggg|12 years ago
Also, does it do away with the need for women wiping after a pee?
theli|12 years ago
drak0n1c|12 years ago
masahiro|12 years ago
unknown|12 years ago
[deleted]
rahimnathwani|12 years ago
azernik|12 years ago
grifpete|12 years ago
nkozyra|12 years ago
>:(