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The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

nytimes.com

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Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#371

Post by saagarjha »

stavros wrote: post #298
saagarjha wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they're actually miserable and I strongly prefer toilet paper (yes, I have read all the comments about whether you'd use toilet paper if it touched any other part of your body, etc.) Most parts of the world literally just spray cold water at you; some of them also require you to aim. Toilet paper is a lot neater than this.

It's neater in its application, not neater at its result. As you (and the article) mention, there's no way I'd trust wiping off with toilet paper if I got some paint on my hands, even though it's simpler than washing.

While I don't completely disagree with the argument, I do think it is worth pointing out that your hands touch other people. People often live with sweaty armpits, which is obviously a lesser version of the problem, but I think still worth considering: we put up with things that go in covered, mostly hidden places.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#372

Post by stavros »

saagarjha wrote: post #371
stavros wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's neater in its application, not neater at its result. As you (and the article) mention, there's no way I'd trust wiping off with toilet paper if I got some paint on my hands, even though it's simpler than washing.

While I don't completely disagree with the argument, I do think it is worth pointing out that your hands touch other people. People often live with sweaty armpits, which is obviously a lesser version of the problem, but I think still worth considering: we put up with things that go in covered, mostly hidden places.

Maybe I'm a bit extra in this, but I do have a mental bit for how clean my hands are. If I've just washed them, they're "clean" (clean enough to put in my mouth). If I've touched anything, or any person's hands, they aren't.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#373

Post by throw0101b »

unhappy_meaning wrote: post #24

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…

> I was curious what it was for so I YouTube'd and searched for instructions on what the soap dispenser was for and (kind-of) to my surprise it was soap to lather and clean your anus with your other free hand. After you lather and clean, you basically rinse your hand with the hose as well.

There seems to be two kinds of cultures in the world: those that use water / their hands for post-business cleansing, and those that use paper or some other medium.

* https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191004-the-peculiar-bat...

* https://www.sterillium.info/en/stories-hub/hygiene-customs-a...

For the hands folks, you then need to clean one's hands:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lota_(vessel)#Cleansing

* https://www.pocketbidet.com/blogs/our-blog/what-is-a-lota-a-...

* https://hellotushy.com/blogs/bidets/what-is-a-lota-muslim-hy...

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#374

Post by Belopolye »

kappi wrote: post #230
marcusb wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought $25 versions of this on Amazon during COVID... We did not anticipate or have any of problems you described.

most bidets starts leaking after 6-12 months. It is a flood hazard if the hose breaks.

Big Toilet Paper needs to try harder than this.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#375

Post by jki275 »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #357
jki275 wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't seen a relatively modern house that didn't have an outlet within a few feet of the toilet area in a while.

NIMBYs haven't allowed enough new builds to meet demand for decades.

That statement is so broad as to be impossible to even debate.

There are thousands of new houses going up where I live. Maybe there aren't where you are. Who cares?

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#376

Post by mtalantikite »

saagarjha wrote: post #275
mtalantikite wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> … 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.

No, they're actually miserable and I strongly prefer toilet paper (yes, I have read all the comments about whether you'd use toilet paper if it touched any other part of your body, etc.) Most parts of the world literally just spray cold water at you; some of them also require you to aim. Toilet paper is a lot neater than this.

I mean hey, if you want to walk around like that by all means. Maybe it's my ancestral Muslim side coming out, but I just feel dirty without cleaning myself afterwards.

Also, the water isn't that cold, even in the dead of winter here in the north east. And if you can't aim from that close I'm not sure what to tell you!

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#377

Post by schiffern »

mtalantikite wrote: post #376
saagarjha wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they're actually miserable and I strongly prefer toilet paper (yes, I have read all the comments about whether you'd use toilet paper if it touched any other part of your body, etc.) Most parts of the world literally just spray cold water at you; some of them also require you to aim. Toilet paper is a lot neater than this.

I mean hey, if you want to walk around like that by all means. Maybe it's my ancestral Muslim side coming out, but I just feel dirty without cleaning myself afterwards. Also, the water isn't that cold, even in the dead of winter here in the north east. And if you can't aim from that close I'm not sure what to tell you!

Having used all three, the neatest system IMO is to everyday carry a spray bottle of 70% isopropanol. Beyond just convenient hand sanitizer, this lets your wet the paper so you can finish with 2-3 wet wipes (typ. 2x dry + 2x wet). If the paper's thin, double it over a couple more times if needed.

It breaks down like TP (because it is TP), so this won't create a 100+ ton 'fatberg' in the sewer like commercial wet wipes can do.[0]

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drljNVrA4_k

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#378

Post by albrewer »

unhappy_meaning wrote: post #24

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…

> People who have been doing this their whole lives can probably aim with a precision of a Marine Corp Sniper but to us

I bought these sprayers for my house when people lost their minds hoarding toilet paper during the initial COVID lockdowns in the US. It only took a few days to start getting it right the first time, every time.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#379

Post by barbazoo »

mtalantikite wrote: post #376
saagarjha wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they're actually miserable and I strongly prefer toilet paper (yes, I have read all the comments about whether you'd use toilet paper if it touched any other part of your body, etc.) Most parts of the world literally just spray cold water at you; some of them also require you to aim. Toilet paper is a lot neater than this.

I mean hey, if you want to walk around like that by all means. Maybe it's my ancestral Muslim side coming out, but I just feel dirty without cleaning myself afterwards. Also, the water isn't that cold, even in the dead of winter here in the north east. And if you can't aim from that close I'm not sure what to tell you!

Not sure having a clean bum is a religious thing. Source: Atheist with a bidet.

Re: The Rise of the Japanese Toilet

#380

Post by barbazoo »

narratives1 wrote: post #359
pixelbro wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> try as best as you can to aim it into your anus to wash as best as you can This seems like a great way to spray shit everywhere and is not at all how I learned to use those. What I do is soap one hand, aim the jet into the toilet past the anus with the other hand (jet vector orthogonal to the anus's normal vector), then go to town on it with soap and water. It's foolproof and you get very clean. How has nobody ment…

Yet here I am on the other side surprised to hear you and others saying you’re lathering your poopy butt with your hands in a restaurant bathroom We all gotta wash our butts, but it just seems more civilized to do it in the shower as you can get everything clean, you didn’t just crap, and you’re not eating with those same hands immediately afterwards. Toilet paper + wet wipes are 100x more sanitary than what you desc…

Wet wipes sure if you dispose of them correctly. Don’t just externalizer the problem to the sewer system.
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