After a 13-hour flight, upon our arrival at Tokyo's Narita
International Airport, I made my usual ladies room stop upon deplaning.
This proved to be my first, "Toto, we're not in Philadelphia anymore"
moment of our trip. I assume it is merely coincidental that "Toto" is
the name of a popular Japanese toilet manufacturer.
Although my
husband has cooled his heels waiting for me outside ladies rooms in
airports all over the world, he could not imagine what was taking me so
long. I had to explain to him that I was simply taken aback to find that
using a Japanese toilet required some of the same skills employed in
piloting a spacecraft. I had to read the instructions! One is actually
confronted by fine print with ominous looking diagrams on the back of
the toilet seat.
After
studying the control panel, I was quite sure I wasn't going to be
pushing any of the buttons, at least not before retrieving my luggage. I
thought it would be prudent to have a change of clothes available
before trying any of the water features (i.e. bidet, shower-at any
strength). Actually, "flush" wasn't one of the choices on the special
control panel. That was "flushing sound". I later learned that Japanese
women can become embarrassed by bodily function sounds in public
bathrooms, so Toto thoughtfully provides a "flushing sound" option to
camouflage what might actually be going on. I decided it would be wise
not to be messing with the buttons labeled only in Japanese. Really, why
did they translate only some of the buttons? Was it a case of, "If you
can't understand the labels for these buttons, you have no business
using them"?
I admit I became somewhat obsessed by Japanese
toilets. I suspect I'm not the only gai jin (foreigner) to have
photographed a Japanese toilet. Fortunately, most public Japanese toilet
stalls are completely contained little rooms, thus sparing one the
questioning looks (or rolling eyeballs) from fellow bathroom users that a
camera flash might otherwise cause.
Some
toilets had more features than others. I mean, you never know when you
might have forgotten your watch and mobile phone and need to know what
time it is. And, some toilets were clearly designed to be used by both
genders, creating the need for labels identifying which functions would
correspond to the anatomic idiosyncrasies of each sex. It was a relief
to know that I did not run the risk of washing my "bottom" with the guy
spray. Apparently, the Japanese have determined that "drying wet rear"
is a unisex function.
Although the Japanese have clearly forged
ahead of the rest of the developed world when it comes to toilet
technology, I did come across some bathrooms which appeared to be set up
to cater to even the toilet technology challenged. There were little
diagrams on the outside of the stalls identifying the type of toilet
available within: one could opt for a trough in the ground (honest), a
regular non-high tech toilet or a toilet with all the bells and
whistles.
Finally,
there was the sad day when instead of being able to visit the excellent
(I'm told) exhibits in the Tokyo National Museum, aberrant
gastro-intestinal activity forced me to confine myself to the museum
bathroom.
So, there I was, actually in need of some bottom washing (and
drying), and sure enough, the toilet button labels were all in Japanese.
Fortunately, this was towards the end of our trip when I was more
familiar with Japanese toilet possibilities. So, I took a deep breath,
figured the situation couldn't get any worse, and went with my gut.
Culled from YAHOO
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