

What Japanese toilets taught me about the auto industry - chaostheory
http://thehopkinsonreport.com/2008/12/18/episode-35-what-japanese-toilets-taught-me-about-the-auto-industry/

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coryrc
The whole auto-industry thing is a huge stretch. People here buy simple
toilets, so if his analogy fit, that would mean Detroit would be doing well.
Err...

So, I am choosing to ignore that and focus on the neat toilets.

I grew up in a cold climate and the bathroom was a nice 55 degrees on a warm
day... what a great way to start the morning! So how come we never got heated
toilet seats, rugs, and towel racks? I've never seen them advertised so
probably nobody thought of it.

And the other reason is price. A replacement plunger/valve unit is $5.45 for
my toilet. How much do those expensive toilets cost to repair?

Finally, the bidet sounds tempting. Do people actually like those things?

~~~
sokoloff
I spent a week in Tokyo in 2005 and "must buy Japanese toilet in my eventual
house" was a key takeaway message.

It does take a few days to turn your opinion around on the warm seat issue. On
a legacy toilet, a warm toilet seat feels gross because you can't help but
think about how it got warm and how recently that must have been. The
reptilian part of my brain took a few days to get over that; afterwards it was
the second-best feature ever.

The best? Those sprays. At the risk of taking it to the gutter, which I'll try
to avoid: think about a time when you might have been ill or otherwise had
intestinal troubles. You may have, as I have, just stepped right off the john
and into the shower to tidy up rather than deforest all of Washington state
for TP. With the spray, your normal hygeine regimen steps up to "almost
freshly showered" and it requires almost no paper as you're simply drying with
the paper. (I never had the patience to wait for the heated fans to dry my
bottom, as they work about as quickly as the old-style ones in US bathrooms,
and there too I'd have to wipe my hand/bottom on my pants.)

The heated seat is good, but the spray is the business!

~~~
gcheong
The first toilet I had in Japan was just a plain toilet but one thing about it
was that it had a little wash basin over the tank where you could wash your
hands as the tank was re-filling. Logically I could see it as being efficient
and environmentally friendly but I just never could get over the idea of using
toilet water to wash my hands so I never used it (i did wash my hands, just
not with the toilet water).

Another takeaway - the bath that fills itself up at the exact temperature you
specify and calls out to you when it is ready.

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pragmatic
Have you driven a "Japanese" vehicle? On my parents Honda minivan, the
controls are absolutely horrible. The User Interface is a disgrace. They
didn't read their Design of Everyday Things
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Norman>).

It is a cluttered, clunky mess.

As far as toilets go. I just installed an Eljer (<http://www.eljer.com/>) this
summer. While it doesn't heat your butt, it does NOT clog. It was a consumer's
report pick and for good reason. It's simple, it's quiet and it works every
time. And the UI is impeccable.

So before we go off half-cocked about the Japanese superiority of products,
let's examine the facts. Complicated doesn't mean better.

~~~
iigs
I don't know what the dash of the particular vehicle in question looks like,
but every manufacturer has a "design language" that drives their choices in
external and internal appearance. Lately it seems that Honda/Acura have been
embracing a very modern, technical, feature-dense design. In contrast,
early/mid 2000s Toyotas favored simplicity and parts sharing, with little
regard for the fact the trunk release button is a different shape, color, and
texture than the radio/heat controls on the same console surface.

The domestics have really worked to bring their controls up to par in the 90s.
The Honda design language is moving forward, as well, but they're optimizing
for the Japanese preference for many neat features executed well, as opposed
to minimalism and key features implemented flawlessly.

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gommm
In my experience, all of my friends who have lived long enough in japan and
particularly had such a toiled in their rented appartment (rather rare usually
the owners don't spend money on this when they just want to rent you the
appartment), decided that they'd buy some of those toilets for themselves
eventually... It's a thing to try... Heck even my parents who came to visit
now want a japaneses toilet....

