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The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

nytimes.com

151–160 of 406 posts

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#151

In almost all of SE Asia, especially Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, all of the toilets come with a hand-held sprayer. They also had this in the Doha airport and I'm not sure how common this style is outside of SE Asia but I'm guessing it's common. Japanese style bidets are very common in Korean households as well and I'm sure its easily a billion dollar business. It is nice but the functionality is quite difficult for…

> … but the functionality is quite difficult for a person who's not used to this whatsoever.

I guess for some definition of difficult? Honestly it takes about 5 seconds to get used to and then you can never go back to using just toilet paper.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a plumbing perspective, the Toto is no different from one of the basic units, you just attach the valve to the toilet’s water supply. For electricity, it depends on your situation but if you have an outlet nearby (eg. where you would plug your hair dryer or electric toothbrush) you can just plug into that. The plug doesn’t need to be directly behind the toilet, you run a cord to it.

Depending on the code, a separate outlet and/or a circuit might be required

Get an outdoor-rated, thick gauge extension cord and plug it into a GFCI outlet. There is a teeny-tiny chance of electric shock during thunderstorms, but GFCI will shut the circuit quickly, usually. Consult an electrician before doing this. Or just get a GFCI outlet installed near the toilet. That's safer!

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#153

In almost all of SE Asia, especially Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, all of the toilets come with a hand-held sprayer. They also had this in the Doha airport and I'm not sure how common this style is outside of SE Asia but I'm guessing it's common. Japanese style bidets are very common in Korean households as well and I'm sure its easily a billion dollar business. It is nice but the functionality is quite difficult for…

Those hand sprayers are an Muslim thing aren't they? That's what I was told by locals in SE Asia. Searching, it comes up

Not always — I was pretty surprised they didn’t have them in every bathroom when visiting Morocco. My family is Algerian and they’re standard there, and I always assumed it would be common in other Muslim countries considering how much emphasis there is on cleanliness, but I didn’t encounter a single one the entire time I was in Morocco, across four cities.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#154
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I’ve got one at home too. Was cheap, easy to install and works pretty well. Admittedly things don’t get very cold where I am, so YMMV. I do dream of installing a legit Toto with the warmed seat and self cleaning, but didn’t want to deal with the hassle of buying the unit and then having to hire both a plumber and an electrician. The only real problem is my son has grown up spoiled with a bidet at home, and no…

Really don’t need an electrician. Just plug in to an outlet on the wall or an extension power strip. Don’t need a plumber as well. It’s really easy to install.

Careful with this advice. There is a tiny risk of electric shock if you use an outdoor-rated extension cord, a bigger risk if you use an indoor-rated strip, and a pretty big risk if you use indoor without a GFCI outlet.

The safest thing to do is always to get that outlet installed.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#155
post #7

It's great for your master bathroom. I wouldn't put them in a guest bathroom because over time the wand accumulates poo - might be unsanitary after a while. I clean mine every couple of weeks.

The wand has a self-cleaning mode?

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#156
post #86

What if you spray diarrhea on the sprayer and that person doesn’t use it, the next person gets it up their azz

the sprayer is hidden away unless you press a button to extend it

And they run a self-clean cycle when you sit down during which the wand shoots the water downwards.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#157

In almost all of SE Asia, especially Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, all of the toilets come with a hand-held sprayer. They also had this in the Doha airport and I'm not sure how common this style is outside of SE Asia but I'm guessing it's common. Japanese style bidets are very common in Korean households as well and I'm sure its easily a billion dollar business. It is nice but the functionality is quite difficult for…

[flagged]

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#158
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're totally installable in a rental, takes about half an hour to install the first time, and about ten minutes to remove when you move out. The only thing is that one will typically need to run an extension cord to reach the toilet, but typically apartment bathrooms are pretty small anyway so it's not a particularly long extension cord.

Right, just buy a thousand dollar Toto and run an extension cord across your bathroom! Install it and oh, find a place to store the existing toilet.

The washlet only replaces the bowl lid, which is very easy to remove/replace.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#159
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those hand sprayer versions are bad to use and unhygienic too, because fecal matter gets sprayed beyond the toilet bowl. I know why Arabic countries prefer hand sprayer versions: istinja practices of Islam.

No concern really in my experience. This point is often raised by the uninitiated.

How does one get initiated? They had the hand sprayers at my office in India. I never tried. Experimenting with that and having to go back to work seemed like a bad idea. I also didn’t feel like asking co-workers how to use their toilets.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#160
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You certainly can put a GFCI outlet adjacent a toilet, sink or in any other wet space. Please don't spread electrical code myths.

That’s exactly what I’m talking about, so thanks for confirming the ‘myth’. If you think the average person knows that acronym you’re mistaken. It’s an additional circuit breaker built into the outlet, as I said. Should have said ‘normal’ power outlets not allowed to avoid this subthread however.

Umm, GFCI isn't an arcane thing, they've been around and required in bathrooms since the 70s [0]. People may not know the acronym, but they 100% are familiar with the outlets with the two little buttons that you sometimes have to reset. Local jurisdictions may have delayed adoption, so your city might not have required them right away but it was national code in 1975 for bathrooms.

They also don't have a circuit breaker built in, they perform a completely different function from a circuit breaker. And have been required in at least some portion of a property since the early 70s under the NEC, expanding over time to include anywhere where exposure to water is a possibility.

Even if we look at a super old version of the NEC, in 1965 I don't see anything that would prohibit installing an outlet near a toilet. I'm referencing a PDF of the 1965 version, but I don't have a shareable link.

I'm posting this not to shame you, but to point out that you have some misunderstandings of what is electrical code and so other members don't see your first confident statement and take it as fact. Plus, you can't tell if an outlet is GFCIs protected or not just by looking at it, even the very early ones could protect downstream outlets and at since the late 00's GFCIs combination breakers have been common. An outlet may look like a normal outlet and be GFCIs protected, I would wager that most of the kitchens you have been in have had GFCIs outlets.

[0] https://www.howtolookatahouse.com/Blog/Entries/2018/7/when-w...

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