Posted on 04/10/2014 7:16:24 AM PDT by C19fan
I remember about 10 years ago, I was watching a National Geographic show about a hunter-gatherer tribe in Papua New Guinea. 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.
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I suspect that the real reason we don't adopt Japanese toilets is the very fact that people are so eager to give reasons not to. We've grown used to the idea that everything good is invented in America. If it wasn't invented here, it must not be worth having, we tell ourselves. It's a toxic combination of "golden age mentality" and national chauvinism — a symptom of "Ming America."
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...
the basic model — just a hole in the floor...
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The Soviets had those. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union I saw them filled with Soviet rubles. Their value had fallen so low they were used as toilet paper.
Yup...
That’s Bob Umgulu.
He’s a local...
He’s down with the struggle, yo.
Never got the “squat” notion...
In that same space, they could have put a standard sit-down model... rounded, with room for knees.
First, Americans are adverse to spraying their bottoms with water. The bidets in the bathrooms of Americans traveling to Europe are laughed at, not adored.
Second, heated toilet seats? Yea, I have seen those offered, almost no American wants to place their bare genitals and backside down on an electrical water bowl.
Third, cost. Its a crapper for crying out loud. Isn't money better spent on electronics where you would prefer to spend most of your time?
Fourth, cleanliness. Given what it is that you have to clean from a toilet, the less it has to stick to, the better off you are.
Finally, simplicity. What you want most from all plumbing is reliability. Microchips do not enhance the reliability of a flush bowl, gas neck mechanism that only needs water dumped in it to function properly.
The author sounds like a flaming metro-sexual, who fantasizes about heated butt seats, while getting a mani-pedi.
Exactly. The Japanese (or maybe its most Asians?) generally have a bit of an obsessiveness about toilets anyway. Just take a look at this toilet-shaped soup bowl (and also, note the "seats" the patrons are sitting on). This is from a restaurant in Taiwan, but they have them in Japan as well. I mean, WTF?!
It was a platform about 18inches high and 3ft wide. It has a trough in the middle with water running through it.
It was shared by men and giggling women alike. 1 and 2.
The airman in th photo was Australian, not that it matters.
Cannot write about a tech innovation without dissing America and comparing us to cavemen. The “leapfrogging” phenomenon he writes about is real, and when the climate is right, no doubt some developers in the U.S. will make it cost-effective to bring the technology and price in line with mass-market acceptance. No need to beat his breast about how lame we are.
Is that good or bad? What was it that they couldn't take in Japan?
he was an Australian solider
If adoption of modern flush toilets is some sort of measure of competitiveness and modernity, then Europe and the British Isles are lagging woefully behind. Gravity tanks mounted at the ceiling are not uncommon. Ancient plumbing.
On the other end of the scale, the Japanese have a fascination with bodily functions that Americans do not have. It does not even occur to us, to want a toilet with a stereo or mood lighting. We don’t have toilet-themed restaurants. So, it’s just not a priority.
I could just as easily claim that Japan is behind because they typically only have one bathroom in their tiny residences. Maybe it’s a desire to glorify what little they have, that has them pimping their loo, who knows?
Some people used to like to work on cars, until they became too computerized and laser-printed. I like to work on houses. I have to get a house built before 1940 -- before power tools and factory-pre-assembled parts and plastic materials -- if I want to be able to solve most of the problems myself.
High-tech often costs more money to maintain and it's wasteful, because it is too micro-manufactured to be repaired through common mechanical logic.
Made by little old ladies (or lady boys) with a stack of brand new panties and a can of tuna-fish.
I am not sure about the heated seats (would be nice in the case when I am in one of my great virus fevers, admittedly, but probably can’t justify those few occasions for that cost), but the bidet and dryer are the bomb.
As one who lacks a gall bladder, I spend more time than I would like with the porcelain throne. And after a while, toilet tissue feels like sand paper. I have a very simple bidet (look up Tushi Clean, I found it by searching for other gall bladder-free sufferers). That thing is a blessing from The Lord. Reduces toilet paper use too. Could make that zero if the thing had a blow dryer. My next house will have the dryer and the bidet.
So judging men’s sexuality on their use of a bidet, is just nuts, IMO. Plus the fact, that after using a bidet, you realize just how nasty you remain with toilet tissue. Flushable wet wipe sales are not increasing without reason... and unfortunately clogging many sewer systems in cities (and rural areas too, their tank systems).
But on the other side, buying one of these multi-kilodollar contraptions could be considered nuts as well (unless you just have money to toss overboard).
Over-engineering is a very poor idea.
I was being a bit tongue in cheek.
I drive between here (Chiba) and Tokyo every day... but I got your point.
(actually hate the trains... every time I use one, I catch a cold or flue :/
The have toilet seat.. hmm. not sure of a name.. ‘mittens’ is the best I can think of. It’s like having the carpet at the base of the toilet stretched around the seat itself... don’t they have those back in the states?
If there are any salvage yards near you, they are often a great source of building components. It was years ago in a different city, but on my first whole-house rehab, I got used stainless-steel cabinets with glass door inserts and glass shelves for my bathroom, for very little money. They had originally been hospital cabinets. This was before stainless steel even became popular. I also got wooden six-panel doors, brass knobs and various other fittings, cheap.
For post-gall bladder problems such as you describe, probiotics such as Activia, 1 to 3x daily, are helpful. The Aldi food store chain also has a store brand. There are higher-tech probiotics in capsule form on the health-food market as well.
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