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This Japanese toilet should make Americans very worried
The Week ^ | April 9, 2014 | Noah Smith

Posted on 04/10/2014 7:16:24 AM PDT by C19fan

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The author is claiming because Americans do not buy fancy toilets like they they have in Japan that is somehow a sign of Americans not adopting the best technology in the world and we will suffer the same fate as Imperial China. Relying on one item is a real stretch. Japan has had fancy toilets for as long as I remember. I do not know how much it costs but I am sure it orders of magnitude more than a basic porcelain model. Also, I do not see these fancy toilets being adopted outside of Japan, say in Europe. So it seems the Occam's Razor answer is there is something in Japan's culture that they like their toilets to be gadgets just like almost everything else in their life, for example, vending machines. It seems the author seems to forget when it comes to electronics and camera equipment, Americans have a long standing huge bias in favor of Japanese brands.
1 posted on 04/10/2014 7:16:24 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: C19fan

In addition to your good points, we adapted Brit toilet technology quickly and soon had more indoor johns than they did.


2 posted on 04/10/2014 7:20:10 AM PDT by Monterrosa-24 (...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47.)
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To: C19fan

“.... The men were running around in loincloths with spears, hunting animals, making offerings to the gods — you know, typical primitive-tribe stuff....”

Wow... sounds like my old North Philly neighborhood on a Friday night...


3 posted on 04/10/2014 7:20:57 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: C19fan

I remember a Japanese family in this area. They had been here for over a hundred years but still kept up with their relatives in Japan. This family had become quite wealthy.

They made a trip to Japan to visit family. After only a couple of days they couldn’t take it any longer and moved into a hotel for the rest of their visit.


4 posted on 04/10/2014 7:22:16 AM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8: verses 38 and 39. "For I am persuaded".)
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To: C19fan

Most people don’t want to spend a thousand dollars for a toilet. The TOTO’s are nice units but run on the expensive side.

Quote a price north of two hundred to three hundred dollars plus installation for a toilet and you begin to get the sideways looks from customers.


5 posted on 04/10/2014 7:23:03 AM PDT by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: C19fan

Because... racism. Yeah that’s it. It wasn’t invented here so we don’t like because we wacist.


6 posted on 04/10/2014 7:25:56 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: C19fan

Sometimes a toilet is just a toilet.


7 posted on 04/10/2014 7:26:22 AM PDT by DManA
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To: headstamp 2

The old standard low tech toilet is one of the greatest inventions of all time. They’re virtually indestructible, easily repaired and will last many lifetimes.


8 posted on 04/10/2014 7:27:06 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: DManA; C19fan

Al Bundy didn’t think so....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqT21Pv1CAs


9 posted on 04/10/2014 7:28:12 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: C19fan

Rich Americans have had these for years. I’m sure Hilary wears out two a year.


10 posted on 04/10/2014 7:29:17 AM PDT by jetson
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To: DManA; C19fan

... and the bathroom of his dreams...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsHmXv-z2WM


11 posted on 04/10/2014 7:29:22 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: C19fan

Its because most Americans don’t give a crap about their toilet. As long as it goes wooosh and takes the smelly stuff away.


12 posted on 04/10/2014 7:29:27 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: C19fan

Very easy to shoot this idiot down. When I lived in my old apartment in Osaka, I had a washlets toilet, when I lived in Kyoto, I didn’t. The difference is price. I paid around $600
a month for a high turnover 150 sq. ft apt. in Osaka - I paid $560 for a low turnover 300 sq. ft apt. in Kyoto.

A toilet costs maybe around $150-$250 with maybe $5 in toilet paper a month to use. A washlet set costs AT LEAST $500 with about $10 a month in electricity/water costs to use. It’s basic economics that Americans would have no demand for a more expensive toilet with no real additional benefits other than a warm toilet seat and a squirting water nozzle? In fact, Americans are actually smarter because they use lower-tech, more affordable products. There also is a device in Japan present in many department stores toilets that makes the sound of a toilet flushing so that you can cover the sound of you pooping without wasting water. That would seem stupid to an American, with a clear reason.

The train comparison also is stupid. I lived in Japan for five years and never drove. Driving in Japan is a luxury every except rural areas. Japan is also about the size of California with almost three times the population. Americans choose car travel because America is farther spread out, Americans find the freedom of it attractive, and it’s more affordable to use a car than construct huge grids of train tracks throughout the nation, causing both eminent domain and environmental problems for a questionable end.

Economics rules everything - people that ignore the realities of economics look like fools upon close inspection of economic facts.


13 posted on 04/10/2014 7:30:21 AM PDT by struggle
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To: C19fan
Have you ever sat on a heated toilet seat? It is an experience not to be missed. Imagine a heated car seat on a cold day, and then imagine that without pants.

Alaska. Outdoor, unheated toilets. -30°F

I don't find the indoor, room temp toilet seats such a hardship any more.

14 posted on 04/10/2014 7:30:29 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: C19fan

I have two Toto toilets - but not the fancy seat.
Still, by far the best toilets I have ever owned, by a long shot.

I really think if I had a tuba case, that toilet would have
no issue flushing it down (assuming I could get it through
my bathroom door.

I am seriously thinking about buying one of the fancy seats.


15 posted on 04/10/2014 7:30:42 AM PDT by Verbosus (/* No Comment */)
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To: C19fan

I’ve been to many countries, and no other country in the world has adopted Japanese toilets.


16 posted on 04/10/2014 7:30:57 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: C19fan
The men were running around in loincloths with spears, hunting animals, making offerings to the gods—you know, typical primitive-tribe stuff. But okay, I don't judge… we’re all descended from people like that
No we are not.
17 posted on 04/10/2014 7:31:16 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: C19fan
Had to use one while staying at the Marriott on Okinawa - too many buttons and switches, I kept getting confused which button did what.
First time it was like: "Woah - what the hell was that?!!!
18 posted on 04/10/2014 7:31:23 AM PDT by Psalm 73 ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here - this is the War Room".)
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To: C19fan

Primitive man uses a spear.

You show him how to use an atlatl and he will use it.

Then show him how to use a bow and arrow and he will use it.

Then show primitive man how to use a super modern compound bow with cables, wheels, fiberglass, and he will probably reject it as he has no means of making such a thing.

We Americans still like things simple.

One today could design a super modern electronic salt shaker that measures out the amount of salt you really need by using an electronic probe in the food, but would you really use it?

I still like a nice gas stove and oven with dial controls instead of a super modern electronic control. Electricity goes out, dial operated stove still works, but not the electronic pad stove.


19 posted on 04/10/2014 7:31:53 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: C19fan

Loincloths in Papua New Guinea? More like bare butts and penis sheaths...


20 posted on 04/10/2014 7:31:58 AM PDT by null and void (The British declared war on the Tea Party. The Tea Party won! (Thanks mom!))
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