The Road Less Traveled

Japanese Toilets

Sunday, October 12th, 2008 by Rintaun | General

I haven’t written anything in a while now… I haven’t forgotten to, it’s just that nothing beyond the ordinary has really happened recently. Just daily life and nonstop, extremely exhausting study. In a normal week, I study kanji alone for at least ten or twelve hours, not counting ANY time spent in class.

But that’s entirely different from what I’m actually writing about today. My topic is something much closer to ALL our hearts: toilets. In Japan, there are primarily two types of toilets, and if you took a hint from nearly everything else in Japan and guessed Japanese-style and Western-style, then you’d be absolutely right.

“But how can this be,” you may be wondering… “A toilet is a toilet!” And that is where you would be wrong. The situation is actually a bit more complex than simply Western- and Japanese-style toilets, but I’ll begin by explaining the differences between these two major types.

One thing Japan got right when they named Western-style toilets “Western-style” is that they are, much to my relief, essentially the same in nearly every way to actual American toilets. Which is a relief. Japanese-style toilets, however, are entirely different. The picture to the left is, of course, a Japanese-style toilet. It’s pretty self-explanatory, right? If you’re having problems visualizing exactly how you’re supposed to use this toilet, I’ll tell you that Japanese-style toilets are also known as “squat toilets”. I hope that clears up any confusion; yes, it’s as bad as you feared.

Fortunately, pretty much everywhere that has Japanese-style toilets also has Western-style, though in some homes (such as the homes we’ll be doing our homestays in later on), they only have the Japanese-style. But as of yet, I have not had cause to use one of these toilets.

I’ll move on, I guess. I mentioned that the Japanese actually got Western-style toilets right, and mostly, that was true, but it needs a bit of qualification. Even when Japan gets something right, they tend to change it to make it better (at least, better in their way of thinking…). So you end up with toilets like the one to the right… Yeah, it’s pretty much a normal toilet in every way, except that it has… buttons? Whatever could you need buttons for?

It’s not exactly the most comfortable subject to talk about, so I’ll go quickly. Pressing those buttons starts and stops a spray of warm water. Yes, Japan has quite the penchant for making things better… I’ll leave the rest to your imagination, but I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out without too much trouble. I will say, though, that like any too-curious-for-his-own-good foreigner in Japan, I have pressed those buttons. It was rather… surprising.

Anyway, that’s pretty much all for now. I’m pretty much exhausted beyond belief, so I’m going to go to bed (it just hit 12:15am here). Enjoy the nightmares you’ll get from reading this!

5 Comments to Japanese Toilets

Leave a comment