What do you think of Japan’s high-tech toilets?

A very efficient way to spread pathogens and disease. Faeces mist anyone?

They are the best in the world. Every relative or friend of mine who has visited Japan has been amazed by them.

They are thrones fit for a king. Or queen.

It's overkill, but fascinating nonetheless.

Brilliant! The only civilised way to ablute!

Can't beat it, nothing better on this planet. If I ever move back to the States, I would pay to have one installed. Once you try it, you can never go back to the old style.

@Bertie

To "ablute" is to wash (oneself). Your suggestion is a bit off-putting.... :)

To "ablute" is to wash (oneself). Your suggestion is a bit off-putting.... :)

But that's exactly what the hi-tech loos do, and very well, too....

You find being clean .... off-putting?

They changed my life. Bought one for the house back home, though I haven't put in the butt dryer yet.

@cleo

I was thinking more along the lines of hands/face, maybe armpits....

Japanese electric toilets are the best. Two thumbs up here!

I don't have, but certainly use when I visit friends or go out.

I use the washlet, but personally I don't like the drier function, so I continue to use paper.

I have read though that there are health / medical issues with pro-longed overuse.

Apparently our anuses evolved with no thought of water streams iirigating the area. Naturrally it's a "dry zone". Many beneficial bacteria are washed away, and skin irritations, eczema, allergy problems leading to infections are on the rise due to over-washing.

So rather than wallowing in squirting bliss, moderation is the key.

I'll never forget how my four-year old boy (now 21) almost hit the ceiling the first time he mistakenly pressed the bidet button.

lucabrasi - You're using it wrong. If you've got one at home, dig out the user's instruction manual. If it's in a public loo, there should be diagrams on the wall....

I have to be honest, I have a washlet at home -- not the top of the line, and not the bottom, either -- and the only thing I ever appreciate about it is the heated seat come winter. I don't use any of the other functions, nor have I tried them (at home -- I have tried some before somewhere or another, which is why I know I don't like them). My wife uses it more than I do. Both of us agree, though, that it's not worth the bills you need to pay to have it powered on at all times, so we tend to turn it off for most of the time unless we're going to be home all day in winter.

Great inventions. Bet Sir Thomas Crapper would be delighted with what is a high-tech extension of his original invention. I have friends in the United States who used to live in Japan say they installed Japanese-style toilets in their homes ... and love them.

I am not sure why but I don't think it is healthy to use a washlet.

I first tried a washlet at a Japanese resort in Guam. Love them. I've noticed them in resorts in the USA too. And my wife's friend in Long Island City has washlets installed throughout her condominium, so hopefully these novel and sanitary washlets are starting to catch on in the USA. Certainly when it comes time for me to renovate my bathrooms, I plan to install washlets in my house.

Once you have a washlet you can never go back to the dry wipe.

choiwaruoyaji: "I am not sure why but I don't think it is healthy to use a washlets."

As opposed to what? Wadding up paper in your hands to wipe yourself? It's true that if you don't clean the washlet well, nor remove it to clean under once in a while it's probably a massive bacteria trap (same as anything you don't clean well), but despite not liking them much myself I don't see how they're any more unhealthy than anything else.

Cleo, well done for knowing this.

ABLUTE

Etymology Back-formation from ablution.

(intransitive, colloquial) To wash oneself. [First attested in the Late 19th century. (transitive, colloquial) To wash. [First attested in the Late 19th century.

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 5

I don't see how they're any more unhealthy than anything else.

I think it might not be a good idea, just after evacuation, to spray the sphincter with jets of water.

As I said, not sure why and no evidence to back this up... just something I thought.

We visited Japan in 2014 and what we missed most, was the "washlet"

Definitively it is the most civilized toilet in the world. We bought one online and had it installed right away. It should be mandatory in all hospitals and nursing homes and also for people with disabilities.

Have there been studies on the extra consumption of toilet paper (bathroom tissue for the squeamish) to dry wet posteriors?

Choiwaruoyaji: there is zero reason to think spraying your sphincter is harmful in any way, unless the jet is so strong it tears tissue. Again, wiping with an abrasive product connected to your bare hands is far more harmful. You ever hear of an enema? And the jet inst going up inside you anyhow. How on earth would splashing clean water hurt?

Much more civilized and sanitary than smearing feces around with 'paper.'

there is zero reason to think spraying your sphincter is harmful in any way

Maybe.

On the other hand it might be like cotton buds (swabs) for the ear... many doctors now recommend against them.

Using a washlet might be like that.

choiwaruoyaji: "On the other hand it might be like cotton buds (swabs) for the ear... many doctors now recommend against them."

Wouldn't that be more like toilet paper? How are cotton buds like spraying water?

"Using a washlet might be like that."

I hope you don't read the National Enquirer or subscribe to superstition. Your odd fear of washlets reminds me of a Japanese woman I know who thought many foreigners were bald because they don't use umbrellas, or people wear cologne and perfume because they eat meat (she said at a party where she was eating yakiniku... no joke!), and who honestly believed it was thanks to the goldfish predictions that Japan got 12 gold medals in Rio.

"It should be mandatory in all hospitals and nursing homes and also for people with disabilities."

Heck, there shouldn't be any more non-washlet toilets made any more, just like there shouldn't be any more cigarettes made any more, lol

It's not what I have been referring to but here is some research suggesting that washlet use may have a down side.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058441

What is there not to like? A clean behind in seconds.

Once you have a washlet you can never go back to the dry wipe.

Nor should you.

I grew up in the mideast for a number of years where they have a hose next to the toilet, so I grew up rinsing before wiping. I find it absolutely revolting to only wipe after relieving yourself. Now, if the toilet doesn't have a washlet, I try to hold it until I find one that does. And yes, when we were looking around for apartments to rent, having a washlet was on top of the list.

Heck, there shouldn't be any more non-washlet toilets made any more, just like there shouldn't be any more cigarettes made any more, lol

Preach on brother.

choiwaru -

I think you're talking to the brick-walls, that couldn't possibly acknowledge there may well be some detrimental points scored by overusing washlets. Not my hallowed altar of defecation!!!!

Many people I know use wash functions multiple times a day and in my opinion that's probably too often.

As you linked, there is medical research that indicates such and I think more warnings will appear for careful usage as more data is collated and presented to a "spick & span" public.

They're incredible, it's always hard to use a non-washlet toilet without being disappointed and slightly annoyed