Tokyo: Japanese Toilets (Day 1)
There are a couple of weird things about Japanese toilets. I don't mean the ones that are not a toilet as much as a hole in the ground coated with porcelain - those are definitely weird - but there are some features Japanese toilets have that seem to be pretty normal that I've never seen in the States.
The first is that it's pretty common to see toilets in private homes with heated seats. I haven't been to a lot of people's houses - nearly everybody I know lives in student apartments - I'll admit, but the few I've been in have had heated toilet seats. I've only tried it once, but I forgot I had turned it on and was a little confused until I remembered. I'm sure it would be nice on a cold night, but it felt uncannily - pardon the pun - like going right after someone else.
If you look at the picture at right, you can see the control knob and power cord running off from the seat itself to the wall socket.
You can also pretty clearly see what appears to be a faucet on the top of the toilet. This is, in fact, a faucet. Someone decided that, if you have to fill the tank, and the water in the tank is just going to be used to flush various human wastes, it probably doesn't need to be clean. Right?
So why not first use the water to let someone wash their hands?
In case anybody cares, that there is a high dynamic range picture composited from two shots. Given that it was handheld, I'm surprised it worked, but there you have it.
The first is that it's pretty common to see toilets in private homes with heated seats. I haven't been to a lot of people's houses - nearly everybody I know lives in student apartments - I'll admit, but the few I've been in have had heated toilet seats. I've only tried it once, but I forgot I had turned it on and was a little confused until I remembered. I'm sure it would be nice on a cold night, but it felt uncannily - pardon the pun - like going right after someone else.If you look at the picture at right, you can see the control knob and power cord running off from the seat itself to the wall socket.
You can also pretty clearly see what appears to be a faucet on the top of the toilet. This is, in fact, a faucet. Someone decided that, if you have to fill the tank, and the water in the tank is just going to be used to flush various human wastes, it probably doesn't need to be clean. Right?
So why not first use the water to let someone wash their hands?
In case anybody cares, that there is a high dynamic range picture composited from two shots. Given that it was handheld, I'm surprised it worked, but there you have it.
posted by William at
8/28/2008 06:33:00 PM
6 Comments:
Ok, that faucet is pretty strange. Do you turn it on with the silver handle thing on the side and if so, how do you flush the thing?
I've seen ads for "singing" toilet seats from over there. Apparently when you sit down on them background music will play to mask any unpleasant sounds.
You're missing the point. The water goes into the tank like it does normally, it just runs through open air first so you can use the water beforehand.
In other words, when you flush, the faucet is in use automatically.
Ah. I see. I wondered how that would work exactly. So is that a little drain hole in the top of the tank there, or does that faucet pour right into the toilet (which makes a little less sense because of splashing and the way toilets flush and fill that I have seen, but I'm not quite sure how far it extends out, even when enlarging the photo).
Ah, it fills the tank! I'd always assumed that the faucet had a separate drain in all the stuff I'd seen.
I'd never thought that you could use that water to flush with. GENIUS!
Also: no toilet-mounted bidet? Those are supposed to be getting very popular now too.
I've seen pictures of the washing bits on a stand next to the toilet in comparison to a built in bidet.
LOL...because we were looking at this picture and some other comparison pictures of them, people here at the house are making fun of me for being crazy over Japanese toilets. Heheh. They are pretty cleverly designed, I do say.
Extra cool thing is that the flush handle goes in two directions: "Little" and "Big", so if you basically just need to flush what's there and refill the bowl, that's all it does.
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