Japanese Hot Toilet Seats

[japan lover]

The first time I went to Japan, I didnt know that most japanese use hot toilet seats.
I've heard the story maddona said that she missed the hot toilet seats but I din't know that they were so popular. I live in the US so I wanted one for myself. I bought one a few weeks ago at this online shopping site. It arrived yesterday. I am so happy I wanted to share it with everyone.
It's GREAT. Did you know that this device will automatically wash your butt for you.
It sounds a little weird. But, I really like it. Do you want one?
I bought it at the shop below.
http://oohjapan.com/
I don't know, maybe a little expensive. But, you should compare it with other sites. The one I got is wonderfull. Sorry I'm so excited with it.

[Airth]

Welcome to the club. They are marvellous, aren't they? I live half the way up a mountain where the temperature drops down to about -20 in the winter, so I wouldn't be without my heated toilet heat and soothing warm jet of water between the cheeks.

I visit a company once a week that has the very latest loo technology fitted; naturally the seat lifts automatically when you walk in, and the remote control can keep you amused for hours with its plethora of options. Wonderful indeed.

[Belton]

When I stayed at a Buddhist temple I was surprised to find a heated toilet. No hot water in the washstand but the luxury of warming your bum on a cold morning.

Another surprise is encountering heated seats in public restrooms. Only in Japan would they survive.

[WCR91]

Hmm. The toilet seats. Question. I once saw in an advertisement for some store in Akihabara a "temperature controlled" toilet seat. Does this mean you can make it hot or cold? Also, what other options does the seat feature? Useless technology fascinates me.

[Belton]

Does this mean you can make it hot or cold? Also, what other options does the seat feature? Useless technology fascinates me.

It's not entirely useless. Over-engineered maybe.

The base model just heats up. Warm or warmer. Stern warnings about potential for burning invalids or elderly on warmer setting.

The next one up has heated water jets and a remote control to vary the pressure and stop and start it. And vary the angle for おしり or ビデイ. All very exciting. Of course the hinge mechanism on the seat makes it so niether the lid nor seat can be slammed down. sensors so you have to be seated to use the spray. A deoderiser was mentioned in the blurb on the door but where this came in I don't know.

For water conversation there is a two level flush handle. Some models also incorporate a basin in the top of the cistern so you wash your hands as the cistern refills. (Water conversation is a bit of a joke if you see how it is splashed about in sentos. Drop in the ocean really.)

Then apparently you can go upmarket with auto flush, noise masking trickling water, auto seat putting up and down, warm air bum drying and who knows what else.

It all seems absurbly wonderful until you encounter the traditional not much more than hole in ground low level affair. And while there are restrooms EVERYWHERE, (clean undamaged and free) you usually have to provide your own toilet paper and handtowel.

[rdesiree]

hmm... looks to me as if there's no simple bidet in the whole country ... ?
I have never experienced a japanese-style toilet, but istn't that still a messy affair? And why should one need also those mechanisms like an arm that sprays heated water, when it's much more hygienic ( sorry, maybe I'm exaggerating here.. but I really can't imagine that it's not) and easy to use a bidet?
Hearing about the really small quarters, is it because there's simply no place in the bathroom to put a bidet in??

edit: or a radio/mp3player/journal display/etc, for that matter??

[Airth]

No, I've never come across a separate bidet. That could be due to space restrictions, but that doesn't explain why I also never came across one in the UK. Anyway, it all seems fairly hygienic to me, at least better than the dreadful squat type, but lets not get into those.

By the way, though it's true you often won't find a handtowel/dryer, I can't remember the last time I went to a public loo and didn't find provided toilet paper.

Oh and a feature I've started to see more and more recently is 'massage', which kind of jiggles the spray for extra entertainment value.

[Bueller_007]

Yeah, I think the toilet paper thing is only written in guidebooks.

I've seen a couple in train stations that don't have *free* TP, but you can buy a wad of it for 100 yen in the vending machine.

[Alan]

I noticed that the Shinkansen have both japanese and western style toilets, but that everyone prefers the western one. Being in a hurry, I went for the japanese style, and can confirm it's even more difficult to use on a moving train There are some grab handles for stabilisation.

Regarding the heated seats. I read an interesting warning notice, explaining that you should wait for the flush to complete before engaging the bidet function. Common sense really. One impressive beast of a toilet, I had difficulty identifying the flush function, so it's worth identifying this on the more advanced models before you get comfy.

Would I buy one? Probably not. However playing with all the features is quite fun.

[tintinium]

They are much better and hygenic than simple bidets... which require you to use your hands to wash yourself.

If you don't wash your hands completely after using a bidet, there's all kinds of stuff under your nails.