Japanese toilets! OMG!!!

[Samurai_Jerk]

Flushing Sound? Japanese Toilets Explained

After a 13-hour flight, upon our arrival at Tokyo's Narita International Airport, I made my usual ladies room stop upon deplaning. This proved to be my first, "Toto, we're not in Philadelphia anymore" moment of our trip. I assume it is merely coincidental that "Toto" is the name of a popular Japanese toilet manufacturer.

Although my husband has cooled his heels waiting for me outside ladies rooms in airports all over the world, he could not imagine what was taking me so long. I had to explain to him that I was simply taken aback to find that using a Japanese toilet required some of the same skills employed in piloting a spacecraft. I had to read the instructions! One is actually confronted by fine print with ominous looking diagrams on the back of the toilet seat.

After studying the control panel, I was quite sure I wasn't going to be pushing any of the buttons, at least not before retrieving my luggage. I thought it would be prudent to have a change of clothes available before trying any of the water features (i.e. bidet, shower-at any strength). Actually, "flush" wasn't one of the choices on the special control panel. That was "flushing sound". I later learned that Japanese women can become embarrassed by bodily function sounds in public bathrooms, so Toto thoughtfully provides a "flushing sound" option to camouflage what might actually be going on. I decided it would be wise not to be messing with the buttons labeled only in Japanese. Really, why did they translate only some of the buttons? Was it a case of, "If you can't understand the labels for these buttons, you have no business using them"?

I admit I became somewhat obsessed by Japanese toilets. I suspect I'm not the only gai jin (foreigner) to have photographed a Japanese toilet. Fortunately, most public Japanese toilet stalls are completely contained little rooms, thus sparing one the questioning looks (or rolling eyeballs) from fellow bathroom users that a camera flash might otherwise cause.

[Russell]