Look what my toilet can do!

While back in the states, a few folks had expressed concern for my upcoming Japanese bathroom situation. They were of course, reasonable concerns. In China I had encountered “non-western” toilets before. These are pretty much holes in the floor, no seat. I have never been fond of the hover squat technique. Especially not with one leg immobilized in a brace. However, that is an experience I can leave behind me.

Japan has not only adopted the western toilet, they have embraced it. At the hotel in Tokyo, my toilet had digital adjustments for a bidet and other features that I could not identify. Had I been there longer, I may have experimented a bit. But in my few day stay I did not venture to let loose a super soaker upon my rectum. Perhaps some night I will awake with great pangs of regret. For now I feel fine.

That was the big city, I am in Shizuoka now. So my toilet should be normal right? I think it might have been day two in Shizuoka that I first utilized the sitting function of my apartment’s toilet. Man, it was hot out. My head was hot. My arms were hot. My legs were hot. My butt was… hot? Something was off here. I stood up, sat back down, touched it with my hand. Yes, my seat was heated. I have a heated toilet seat. It is a humid 90 degrees everyday, and if I am not yet doing so, my toilet sees fit to make me sweat. I tried to make sense of this. Was there greater relaxing purpose that would somehow encourage my digestive system? I do not think so. There is an adjustment dial on the side, but I can make no sense of it as it is in kanji. After a week of bathroom sweats, I took charge and unplugged the toilet from the wall. Somehow that option had eluded me.

Another detail I noticed first day/first flush, was a faucet and basin parked right on top of my toilet. The moment I hit the flush lever, water flowing out the top caught my attention. As seemed natural I placed my hands under the spout and cleaned them. I then thought better of my action, and wondered whether this was some unique draining system. I gave my hands a second wash in the outer bathroom sink (My bathroom is actually three rooms: toilet, sink, shower) just to be sure. Every time I flush the toilet, the faucet automatically kicks in. It is probably just fine, but I have since not been able to comfortably make use of a toilet-top sink.

I have only used a small portion of bathrooms so far, and thus I cannot gauge what makes up a typical Japanese toilet. I will however, do my best to get to the bottom of this.