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Why aren't we all using Japanese toilets?

priceonomics.com

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Re: Why aren't we all using Japanese toilets?

#131

Post by taigeair »

patio11 wrote: post #5

Toto's primary sales channel is "If you build a house or office in Japan and don't specifically talk to your architect/contractor about your post-bowel movement preferences we will take the liberty of using the most current model Toto has available and then invoice you cost plus labor plus 50%." Toto does not have that relationship with the person responsible for picking your toilet. Why does Toto have that relations…

Are these popular anywhere else besides Japan? That would be interesting to know.

Maybe it's a Japanese thing. It's like asking why we don't use arabic toilets...

Re: Why aren't we all using Japanese toilets?

#132

Post by svachalek »

simontzu wrote: post #79
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how they do it in Thailand, at least. Basically, imagine the sprayer in your kitchen sink attached to your toilet. In areas without (edit: running) water, they'll have a bucket of clean water nearby with some sort of cup to use. I've heard this is pretty common in SE Asia.

Yup! And people eat with their hands a lot too. This is why its considered disgusting to eat with the left hand in many places. Right hand for eating, left hand for washing your ass. One of the benefits of having travelled a lot in Asia is you will never again be phased by running out of toilet paper.

Fazed. Sorry, it's not spelling, it's a different word.

Re: Why aren't we all using Japanese toilets?

#133

Post by crusso »

CanSpice wrote: post #90
crusso wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very informative post. Thanks for getting into some details that were bouncing around in my mind. The article makes it sound as though you don't need toilet paper and that didn't sound quite right unless the jet was pretty significant and included some kind of soap.

The article actually states "...many users of bidets use some amount of toilet paper, especially for drying purposes."

Drying purposes != Cleaning purposes.

The only thing worse than cleaning feces paste off my butt with paper that shields my hand would be cleaning diluted feces water off my butt with paper that soaks the water through to my hand.

Re: Why aren't we all using Japanese toilets?

#134

Post by svdad »

utopkara wrote: post #108
aptimpropriety wrote: post #9

Every one of these articles gets the pitch of these toilets completely wrong - for every person, and in every scenario, these are not universally better. Consider the following experiment: Smear some mud on your arm. Now, using a jet stream the power of a squirt gun and very low precision, wash it all off in 10 seconds. Not so easy. Then - imagine if you put mud on a place with hair! Not only will it not be clean wit…

There is something wrong with your jet/mud/arm analogy, because it doesn't translate the real life results. The size, location, mobility, etc. make a difference. Also, these toilets come with a warm air dryer as well. I also saw them for the first time at Google, and then I bought one for home. It saves a ton of waste and you'll be and feel cleaner afterwards. Granted, it does take a little more time to exit after yo…

I must disagree -- in my experience, the jet/mud/arm analogy translates precisely into real life results.

Also, should you find an additional paper pass to be necessary, you'll find it complicated by the fact that the area to be wiped is now wet. Toilet paper notoriously doesn't hold up well when soaking wet.

Re: Why aren't we all using Japanese toilets?

#135

Post by crusso »

Aloisius wrote: post #110
crusso wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding the sprayer, the question is not necessarily what happens to it when it's not spraying water... when the nozzle is in the process of spraying you, it's unavoidable that some of the contaminated splatter goes back into the nozzle. Anyone who uses that toilet will inevitably share the germ cultures from one another's feces. That doesn't strike me as very sanitary.

The wands that spray you are almost always are self-cleaning.

So they have some sort of disinfection process like a chemical or heating element? UV? What does "self-cleaning" mean?

Re: Why aren't we all using Japanese toilets?

#136

Post by hnriot »

I wouldn't want a bidet like contraption, it's just massive overkill for something that humans have turned into a big deal. People seemed to manage for hundreds of centuries just fine without computerized toilets. Utterly ridiculous and a good example of the first world having gone crazy.

These are just extortion, taking advantage of a cultural "issue" in a first world country like Japan.

I can't believe hn are even discussing this.

Re: Why aren't we all using Japanese toilets?

#137

Post by subpixel »

AndyIngram wrote: post #93
aptimpropriety wrote: post #9

Every one of these articles gets the pitch of these toilets completely wrong - for every person, and in every scenario, these are not universally better. Consider the following experiment: Smear some mud on your arm. Now, using a jet stream the power of a squirt gun and very low precision, wash it all off in 10 seconds. Not so easy. Then - imagine if you put mud on a place with hair! Not only will it not be clean wit…

shattaf's (North American salad sprayer but for the restroom) work much better then the Japanese toilets, however I would only want to use one in my residence not a public/work restroom. They are common in Brazil and the Middle East, I think the heat makes being "unclean" a bigger issue.

Wow, I've never hear of a shattaf before.

Is incredible aim required, or does it just spray all over and go through a drain in the floor?

Re: Why aren't we all using Japanese toilets?

#140

Post by crusso »

ErrantX wrote: post #71

Also, economics. These toilets currently cost ~$500 more than a "normal" toilet. Of course, you do use significantly more toilet paper with the latter, but a pack is ~$5 and lasts ~ 1 month, so you'd still be looking at, what 8-10 year return on investment.

but a pack is ~$5 and lasts ~ 1 month

Ah, I remember my bachelor days too.

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