I can’t resist writing a post about the bathrooms in Japan, which are pretty unique. Without further ado, here are my top 12 reasons why bathrooms in Japan are “smart:”
1) Lots of options! Want a heated seat? That’s often one of the many choices on these fancy electronic toilets. In addition, the toilet can act as a bidet (pronounced bee-day), which basically means you can choose to have a little water spray clean your bum. The French invented the bidet back in the late 17th century, but the Japanese figured out how to put it into a toilet.
2) You can choose whether you want to flush a lot or a little. This saves a lot of energy, right? Why do a big flush for just a little liquid? The Japanese aren’t very wasteful, and most public restrooms don’t have paper towels either. Most people carry little towels on them, which they can use to dry their hands, or even to use as a napkin when out at lunch.
3) Hate that foggy mirror? At my hotel, they figured out how to treat a small rectangle of the mirror so that it won’t fog up after the shower. Here I tried to show the before and after shower pictures of the mirror.
4) Don’t want to get dirty sitting on a gross seat? Use a squatter, where nothing touches the toilet area except the bottom of your feet. Most public restrooms that I visited had a choice of a seat or a squatter. In the case of a seat toilet, there was often a little dispenser to grab a squirt of seat sanitizer to put on some toilet paper and wipe down the seat.
5) Don’t want people to hear you going to the bathroom? Apparently, Japanese people don’t want others to have to listen to them go, because most Japanese toilets offer a courtesy sound. Often, it’s motion activated, so that as soon as you approach the toilet, the flush sound starts and runs for a few minutes. Someone told me that the Japanese created this because people were flushing before they used the bathroom as well as after, and it was wasting a lot of water. This way, no need to flush beforehand as a way to block out the sound! In this little video I filmed, you can hear the noise and then hear the real flush when I use another motion sensor to actually make the water run.
6) Why use clean water to flush? I saw a bunch of these toilets where there’s a sink on top, so that you can wash your hands, and then the water that runs off your hands is used to flush the toilet. What a great way to save water!
7) I wish I could always have toilet shoes. In Japan, many bathrooms are equipped with special slippers to put on before you go into the bathroom. Maybe this is because people often take their shoes off inside, but either way, it seems pretty smart to keep socks and clean shoes out of the toilet area.
8) A lot of bathrooms had silly or serious signs to remind people to save energy — they tell people to save toilet paper, don’t use the heated seats unless needed, etc. Some of them were pretty funny, when I could understand them.
9) Many hotels seemed to put a lot of thought into how to help the environment. One hotel we stayed in even offered you 500 yen ($5) a night if you elected not to have your sheets changed daily. I also liked how they didn’t throw out partially used toilet paper rolls, and the shampoo was in refillable containers rather than little disposable ones. Of course, they had disposable products too — I didn’t need a new toothbrush every day, but if I had wanted one, my fancy hotel in Tokyo could have provided me with that.
10) I already wrote about this when I talked about my homestay, but it’s worth mentioning again. The word “bathroom” isn’t used in Japan to describe the toilet. That’s because many Japanese homes have separate spaces for bathing and, in the case of the home I visited, even another space for a big sink. And traditionally, people soap up and rinse outside of the bath (see the little seat and bowl so you can sit in front of the mirror and move the shower head around your body). Then, the whole family uses the same bath water for their final soak (not all at the same time, of course).
11) There were a few bathrooms that were just plain too fancy not to laugh about. Here’s a photo of some teachers from my group enjoying a public restroom:
12) And finally, how adorable is this family restroom?
Overall, we saw LOTS of different types of toilets in Japan, and many were interesting to my American eye. I never thought that a bathroom could make me feel so pampered AND make me think so much about environmental sustainability. The best bathroom-type experience was definitely at the onsen, or hot springs, as I wrote about in my post on Lake Akan. We got to put on these special spa outfits and head down to the tubs for some true relaxation. We weren’t allowed to take photographs inside the hot tub area, but I grabbed a few photos off the internet so that you can get a sense of how amazing it was.
Now, don’t you think American bathrooms are very boring?
They even sell specialty toilet paper!
Categories: Japan
Innovation on Earth 
In Kyoto in the public toilet outside the station they even have a kind of folding area that you can use if you need to try out some clothes (it’s near the shopping area) so you don’t walk on the “dirty” floor with your bare feet or socks. You unfold it just like a table -only it’s at ground level- and step on it. And they have hangers for your bag or umbrella so you don’t wonder where to place your bag when you enter the toilet and have to put it on the floor. Japanese toilets are wonderful ^^
Wow! Japanese bathrooms sound so amazing. When you first saw the bathroom were confused on how to use it or was it easy to use? Also when I went to India a few years ago their bathrooms weren’t very clean and they also had squatters. I wonder who invented squatters first, India or Japan?
This is a really great way to save the environment. Here in America we often use way more water, toilet paper, etc. then we actually need. These bathrooms are very unique and I would really like to try one sometime! At first did all of this amaze you on how different these bathrooms were compared to the American bathrooms?
Yes! I was really confused at first, but got used to it (mostly) 🙂
I have a bidet in my bathroom in Brazil too! It looks like a hose from a sink but it’s placed next to the toilet.
Ha! This is funny. 🙂 It’s kind of funny how the Japanese make bathrooms so luxorious. Although, the picture of a family’s restroom was cute! I showed this post to my mom, who recently just came back from South Korea. She’s also been to Japan, and saw/experienced many of the toilet quirks that you have listed above. My mom said that the toilets in South Korea are just like the toilets in Japan, if not with more buttons!
I’m happy to hear that the Japanese are working hard to conserve energy though, as they’re coming up with lots of ways to do so. Maybe Americans should try some of them out too!
Finally, did you find height at which the showerheads were placed shorter than in America?
Do you miss the luxury of the Japanese bathrooms?
Also, I couldn’t tell what the sign meant in your 8th picture/reason. What does it mean?
Japanese bathrooms are cleaner than the bathrooms at home. Bidets, heated seats and shoes help keep the bathroom clean. Also there is a no touch flush – how clean!
I was interested in the fact that the bathrooms had a motion sensor that made noise when you are going to the bathroom. Second, I liked the idea that the Japanese are conserving water by using sink water to flush the toilet. However, I didn’t like the fact that you take your socks and shoes off to put on slippers that have been worn by other people. Overall, I am happy that I read this blog because I never thought that bathrooms were so different in other countries.
The option to flush a little is unique because you can save more water that way. Toilets in America don’t even have these options like warming your seat or have motion sensors.
I thought the heated seat was very clever. What happens if your walking on a cold winter day and your freezing as an icicle. you could use the heated seat. Did you ever use the heated seat? If I was there I would’ve used it every second of the day.
I want to go to Japan even MORE now. That is amazing
The bathrooms looks confusing at first but I think people in Japan think they aren’t because they get used to them. Also I wish we had them here. That would be cool! But it would cost a lot of money because of technology.
That’s so cool, I’ve got to go to Japan! The bathroom at my uncle’s old beach house had a big fan that turned on when you turn on the lights. That helps the same situation as the bathrooms in Japan do.
This was really cool! If I could change something about my bathroom I would put in the remote that has a heated seat, the toilet with the sink on top to save water, and the mirror so that it doesn’t get foggy. What was your favorite one?
I thought the mirror was pretty awesome, and I wish I could do that to my mirror at home!
I loved the family bathrooms!😃The ones in America aren’t that cute. 🚽
A lot of Japanese people seem to like to help the environment. If I had to carry around a little towel all day, I’d probably lose it. I wish I had shoes to put on to enter the bathroom because the floor is usually covered with my siblings’ toothpaste. Yuck!
Thats very interesting. It’s cool how theres a seat or squat option. Also how awesome is it to have a bedet to clean your bum. I would be in heaven if I was in that bathroom. I wished they had those type of bathrooms in Massachusets.
Imagine if we had those type of bathrooms here. That would be so awesome! I would want to go to the bathroom all day long. That bedet is so cool! Also that family bathroom. How cute! It has one big toilet and one small toilet. Those are the coolest bathrooms ever!