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I was listening to Radio One this morning and Scott Mills was talking about toilets in Japan. I don’t think he did the toilets justice to be honest. The modern Japanese toilets are brilliant and a life saver if you have ever lived in the mountains of Japan through the long winter months. Most houses in Japan will not have central heating and are kept warm by kerosene heaters which are quite effective. However, my life saver in the mornings when snow was a metre deep outside was running to the toilet and having a sit down on a nice warm toilet seat – what a relief!
As well as the hot seat, it did have a Star Trek Enterprise captain’s seat style control panel which had all sorts of controls including the jet of warm water button which would keep you clean (if needed). In my 10 years of Japan living/travelling, I have seen an array of super loos (not that I have gone out looking for them or anything) from automatic seats that lift up as soon as you walk into the room (Super Jet Foil to Matsuyama), to toilet seats that light up different colours as you use them (restaurant in Kyoto) to toilets that play the sound of running water and birds singing to disguise any “other” noises you might be making. We are talking hi-tech bogs here.
When on tour with people, dinner table talk about the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji) is often eclipsed by talk of an amazing toilet that was spotted. Forget the culture that oozes out of the ancient Imperial capital, look at the toilet!
Anyway, traditional style Japanese squat toilets apart, the modern Japanese toilets are brilliant – have a loo-k for yourself……sorry.