Many of the bidets and toilets in Japanese homes and businesses have the stylings and looks of American toilets but with way more advanced features.
Known by many as squatter toilets or washlets, today’s modern Japanese toilets can be flushed using your smartphone…yep you heard right…a smartphone…Even non techies like me can appreciate that one…oops forgot to flush…I’ll just do it from the living room. How cool is that?!
The technology for these toilets is on the rise and while there are still many homes in Japan utilizing the older versions which look somewhat like a urinal in the floor, if you can picture that, they are quickly converting to the modern bidets and their more updated features.
Over three quarters of Japanese homes now tout a cleaner toilet system and many, as Westerns like me will attest, surprisingly offer slippers just waiting to be utilized ( and in many Japanese households is a must to wear them in order to even be allowed to use the toilet)…this dates back to tradition, a time when you had to go outside of the home in order to use the restroom.
If you are using one of these toilets they may surprise you unexpectedly with their higher powered stream. Don’t let me alarm you here….I simply mean you may get your clothes wet unless you use the proper method, which is to pull down your pants and underwear to your ankles as to avoid any water getting splashed on them. After a few attempts it will become second nature to you.
As with all bidets and toilets the stream strength can be controlled using a remote or control panel to allow you to adjust this to your satisfaction. Warmed seats are just another great addition that comes on these Japanese toilets, especially nice in the winter months.
You can get a lot of the benefits of a Japanese toilet at a much lower cost by installing a bidet seat on your own toilet. Bidet seats offer all of the benefits of a Japanese bidet but are easy to install and require no new plumbing. I carry a full selection of bidet seats on my site.