111–120 of 172 posts
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.
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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.
You've used correct logic but you missed the point OP was trying to convey.
And now semantic satiation has kicked in for "behind."
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 s…
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.
Barefoot or not your feet are dirty, the shoes are a different kind of dirty, and there's other stuff on the floor too (like in my instance, I really need to get a roomba because my cat sheds all over the place). So whatever.
I'm pretty amazed guests will take their shoes off because everyone that lives here does, like this is what happened when a whole bunch of people came over to my place after my wedding: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chix0r/13618218504/
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Neglecting your domestic agriculture industry kind of sucks if war comes around or some other problem with imports arises, since it takes awhile to regrow your capacity to replace imports (and everyone starves in the meantime). Food security is worth some subsidies, at least, just as a back up in case there is a problem with trade.
> Neglecting your domestic agriculture industry kind of sucks if war comes around or some other problem with imports arises, If war comes around, ANYWAY a country like Japan will be f *ed to sustain its agriculture, with no access to commodities from outside and energy resources like petrol, fertilizers and so on. It is in the best interest of countries like Japan to sustain peace with neighboring countries and have…
You can keep your borders open while still maintaining some essential capacities...like GROWING FOOD. Sure, you can import, but its up there with weapon/defense production in what you probably shouldn't outsource completely to your potential enemies or allies who are further away than your enemies (China...cough...).
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…
Sorry to sound 'negative', but... 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.…
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 wo…
No one is going to die from thirst? Maybe. But a lot of the water loss is in the food-producing middle of the country. People are already starving in the US, and increased food prices will only exacerbate the situation. [1]
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquifer#Subsidence (sections subsidence, saltwater intrusion, and salination)
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Often that's just drywall - very cheap and easy to replace.
As I've already mentioned, it's the labor that's expensive in either time or money since there are pipes behind the drywall that you're going to rip apart. Also some people put tile over their drywall, the very people more likely to buy an expensive Japanese toilet. We're talking a few thousand dollars.
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 s…
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.
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As I've already mentioned, it's the labor that's expensive in either time or money since there are pipes behind the drywall that you're going to rip apart. Also some people put tile over their drywall, the very people more likely to buy an expensive Japanese toilet. We're talking a few thousand dollars.
Sorry to say this but it sounds like you're just trying to come up with any and all excuses to shoot down a valid idea.