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Technology

Best High-Tech Toilet? 354

Posted by michael from the man's-throne-is-his-castle dept.
shellac writes "For a number of years now, Japan has had incredibly high-tech toilets, complete with a funky electronic control panel that controls a water jet for cleaning the posterior, a hot air blow dryer, a fake flushing sound to cover up those noisy "Dumb & Dumber" style sessions, a seat warmer, and other nice features, not to mention the occasional amusing gaijin encounter. Prototype models can also chemically analyze urine using lasers. The manufacturer, Toto, has made these available in the US and in other countries, but they have failed to largely fulfill their promised potential, despite their popularity in Japan. There is some evidence Kohler toilets is keeping these out of American markets. The toilets also appear to be a victim of poor marketing on Toto's part, which in all fairness may be due to Western advertising taboos that do not exist in Japan. I know I would love to have one of these, and I suspect many others would as well. What does that /. community think of these toilets? Can anyone post a personal review?"
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Best High-Tech Toilet? More

Best High-Tech Toilet?

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  • Wow. (Score:4, Funny)

    by saintlupus ( 227599 ) on Sunday March 31, 2002 @11:49PM (#3263535)
    Just how much time do you spend on the toilet? Time to cut some of the Mountain Dew out of the diet, maybe?

    --saint
    • I spent a lot of time on one of these toilet and let me tell you... the are the best! I was sick as a dog for about a week one time. Spending a LOT of time using a warm jet cleaning system is far nicer than rubbing your .... with toilet paper each time.

      I live in Japan, but I don't own one because I just can't quite justify the cost. Luckily I spent that week in my girlfriends house.

  • That's all we need ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bowfinger ( 559430 ) on Sunday March 31, 2002 @11:50PM (#3263545)
    Just what we need, a nation full of toilets blinking 12:00.

  • Three Sea Shells (Score:5, Funny)

    by Crazy Diamond ( 102014 ) on Sunday March 31, 2002 @11:52PM (#3263551)
    That's nifty and all but I'm still trying to figure out the three sea shells.

  • Lasers? (Score:2, Funny)

    by noz ( 253073 )
    "Prototype models can also chemically analyze urine using lasers."

    "An adult male's recommended dietary allowances for vitamin C is 60 mg per day."

    If my urine is yellow I don't need a computer with lasers to tell me I've had my daily intake of vitamin C.
    • Yellow urine can also indicate dehydration, not necessarily large amounts of vitamins. You could take plenty of vitamin C, but if you drank a ton of water, your urine would be mostly clear.

      I bet my wife would never let me get one of these, I already spend too much time on the john, this would make it all the more comfortable, I might never leave the room.

    • Re:Lasers? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 31, 2002 @11:56PM (#3263581)
      I guess this also means, no more masturbating into the toilet.

      "Honey, the toilet log says there has been an unusual ammount of semen in the bowl lately..."

    • Re:Lasers? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by deglr6328 ( 150198 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @03:07AM (#3264543)
      Interestingly (to me anyway), the technology that would be required to make this sort of analysis possible and still fit in to the size of a toilet while being cheap enough to sell for common use was just invented two months ago [slashdot.org]. The complex kinds of analysis(more than just glucose measurements) they are hoping to eventually do with these things(cancer detection etc.) is going to require looking at the presence and concentration of complex biomolecules, which presumably they'd use and FTIR setup to do. The new "Quantum-Cascade" lasers are the only ones to offer the small, solid state, tunable, mid-infrared, coherent, broadband lightsource you would need for the spectroscopy instrument.

  • Post a Personal Review? (Score:3, Funny)

    by chafey ( 108827 ) on Sunday March 31, 2002 @11:53PM (#3263559)
    Uhh, no thanks..

  • Clean my posterior? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hendridm ( 302246 ) on Sunday March 31, 2002 @11:54PM (#3263562) Homepage
    Do we really want water spraying up at our posteriors from a toilet? Seems like cleanup would be more work, and I wouldn't rely on a towel unless I was able to do some actual CLEANING and not just getter the dingleberries wet. Your other option is toilet paper which never stands up nicely to moisture. I don't want to get my ass wet after a nice healthy movement anyway.

    I suppose this is what a bidet is essentially for, but at least you use it with the intention of actually doing to real cleaning of the undercarriage.

    • Re:Clean my posterior? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:17AM (#3263727)
      Heeeelyeah dude, I've been wanting a sphincterial scrubing water ass-jet thingie for years now. For me it's like cleaning peanut butter from shag carpet. I'll leave you with that wonderful visual ;-)
  • Has taking a dump really changed that much in the last few million years? Why do I need lasers toanalyze my urine? Don't forget Japan is also the nation of porn comic books and school girl's panties being sold in vending machines among other sexual deviancies. These people go to Bangkok for sex trips and people want a part of their culture here in the US? Why?

    • Re:What is the use of a high tech toilet? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Don't forget the US is the nation of porno movies,
      porno web sites, peep shows, street walkers,
      massage parlors, pedophilia (priests and
      other assorted perverts), beastiality, porno mags (hustler, jugs, etc), porno comic books (heavy metal etc) among other sexual deviancies. These people go to Las Vegas/Tijuana/New Orleans/Caribbean/Asia/Europe for sex trips and they expect their culture/language/jingoism to be
      accepted by everyone else? Why?
    • Don't forget Japan is also the nation of porn comic books...

      Hey now, let's not be crossing the line by making fun of porn comic books!

      ;)
    • Don't forget Japan is also the nation of porn comic books

      Like [cherrycomics.com] America [toonopedia.com] is [heavymetal.com] not? [spectator.net].

      --
      Evna

  • Monte Carlo Casino Toilet (Score:4, Informative)

    by rufusdufus ( 450462 ) on Sunday March 31, 2002 @11:55PM (#3263574)
    The most advanced toiled I've ever seen was in Monte Carlo several years ago. It was completely robotic. It had something like a carwash hooked up to it, and commodes on a rotating table. After each flush, it would rotate out the toilet and pressure wash the previous one. They really pamper the high rollers I tell ya!

    • Re:Monte Carlo Casino Toilet (Score:4, Funny)

      by ross.w ( 87751 ) <rwonderley.gmail@com> on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:04AM (#3263635) Journal
      I've seen similar to these on the street in London and San Francisco. The downside is that if there is a queue, you have to wait for it to complete the "wash cycle" after each user, which includes having the floor descend into a pit of antiseptic goo, and hot sprays washing & drying everything inside.

      I had to restrain a lady who tried to bolt straight inside after I had finished. Maybe I shouldn't have...

  • More efficiency please! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ghislain_leblanc ( 450723 ) <ghisleb@[ ]com ['me.' in gap]> on Sunday March 31, 2002 @11:56PM (#3263579)
    I have a few simple requests to toilet makers:

    - Odor detection and removal.

    - Gender detection and ajustment (regarding this whole toilet seat issue...)

    - Self-cleaning

    - Methane detection and recycling

    - Portability

    - Stability

    - Scalability

    - Modularity

    ... Oh man, never work on software design when you need to take a dump...

    • Re:More efficiency please! (Score:4, Funny)

      by linzeal ( 197905 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:10AM (#3263675) Journal
      Methane detection and recycling? What do you have a 500lb unemployed girlfriend who eats beans all day that just lost her job that needs to contribute money to the household or something?
    • - Self-cleaning

      You or the toilet?

      ;)
    • ... Oh man, never work on software design when you need to take a dump...

      /slaps_forehead: That's why they're so productive at One Microsoft Way - no toiltes in the whole campus. Now I get it!

      :^D

      Soko

    • - Gender detection and ajustment

      That's probably the first time I've heard the word "adjust" applied to a binary attribute . . .

  • Slashdot is really going down the ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by rvaniwaa ( 136502 ) on Sunday March 31, 2002 @11:58PM (#3263598) Homepage
    I guess someone had to say it

  • I'll buy one if.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by pjdepasq ( 214609 ) on Sunday March 31, 2002 @11:59PM (#3263605)
    I'll buy one if they let me hook it to my LAN, and have a panel with Mozilla built into it. Then I can read /. while I'm in there!
  • Lufthansa Business Class lounge (company dime during dotcom heights of glory!)....toilet there was self cleaning. Stand up, flush....the seat rotated while a squeegee sprayed it w. disinfectant and wiped it clean...all ready for the next "user input". Not as high tech as the article's executive platinum premier commode...but for a guy who has crapped in many places (from a hole in the ground all the way to 35,000 feet (not a problem in the 777!)), I was way impressed!!!

  • So... (Score:5, Funny)

    by drik00 ( 526104 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:01AM (#3263617) Homepage
    How long until Microsoft tries to corner this market? are we going to have to get used to writing

    "shit® happens"?

    • Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)

      by SomeoneYouDontKnow ( 267893 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:16AM (#3263724)

      Well, if MS does enter the market, then I can see how a toilet crash would go. Instead of the BSOD, you'd get the BWOD (Blue Water of Death), in which the blue water in the bowl would rise and rise until it overflows all over the floor.

      • Dude! Don't give them any ideas. Can you imagine..

        • High-pressure water stream + my hairy white ass + microsoft controlled water jet = instant enema
        • We're sorry, you need to sign up for a .net passport before you can use these facilities..
        • THis toilet has been moved from it's previous location. As per the EULA you need to re-activate the toilet with microsoft..
        • Warning! Warning! Linux User Detected. Extremely-Hot-Water-Jet activated. Have a nice day
        • Where do YOU want to go today?
        • Fatal Exception Error Encountered - no flushing available.
        • Dave? Are you Trying to Flush Me Dave?

      • Re:So... (Score:3, Funny)

        by glwtta ( 532858 )
        Sadly, I think the venerable BSOD will then be replaced with the even less pleasant RFOS - Room Full of Shit.

    • Re:So... (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Must remember to flush buffer to avoid an overflow.

      I'd say Intel should market it "Shit Inside"® except it might be a better description of their computers. Then you'd get into royal shit if you tried to do yoga on it.
      • And if AMD made it instead of intel, it would overheat. You'd need some serious cooling, but if it sprung a leak the shit would *literally* hit the fan.

  • Needed: affordable self-cleaning public toilets (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:03AM (#3263627) Homepage
    San Francisco has automated self-cleaning public toilets from JCDeaux. [jcdecauxusa.com] They're bulky and incredibly expensive, costing something like $60,000 per year to maintain. A complete cleaning cycle occurs after each use. Including the floor. There's a phone link for calling 911, a remote maintenance interface, and multilingual recorded voice prompts. Wheelchair accessable. Accepts both quarters and "homeless tokens", which are returned after use. Incredibly overdesigned. San Francisco could only afford 20, and they need at least 100.

    I've seen the innards of the things when they're opened up for maintenance. They're built out of components from the Telemechanique industrial automation catalog. There are motors, valves, pumps, tanks, lights, and a computer with a rack of interface cards in a stainless steel box. That works, but it's an expensive way to go. You don't make a mass-produced product that way. You could build a washing machine, say, from industrial automation components, and it would work fine, but cost upwards of $10,000.

    Some units from Japan designed for mass-production would help.

    • They have self cleaning toilets in France in a lot of places, and they are really nice. They even automatically wash your hands. But they're not handicapped accessible, I don't know how much more that is if any. I wonder how much they are in SF? 7 years ago in france it was about 1USD. So I imagine it might be double that these days, maybe they just need to charge more.
    • They have (had?) lots of those in Paris. When I visited one time in 1987, one of my cousins got stuck in one when the cleaning cycle started--I guess he opened the door and closed it again without exiting and the occupancy sensor malfunctioned. In any case, we outside had a much bigger laugh than he did inside.

  • Truly high-tech toilet (Score:3, Informative)

    by strredwolf ( 532 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:03AM (#3263630) Homepage Journal
    Whoa... where's the Internetworked toilet seat? [mit.edu]
  • Now If they only can come out with the lazybowl. A toilet with a morning paper holder, a beer fridge, a built in remote, and high speed internet access...

  • All I can say... (Score:5, Funny)

    by nettdata ( 88196 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:05AM (#3263642) Homepage
    ...is that if I'm expected to spend that much time/effort/money for/on a toilet, there better be a button on that there control panel for "blow^h^h^h^h oral gratification".

  • Analyze Urine? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by e1en0r ( 529063 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:05AM (#3263645) Homepage
    At Matsushita's research center in Tokyo, scientists explain how they are working on embedding technology in the porcelain that will catch a urine sample, shoot it full of lasers and in short order test it for glucose, kidney disease and eventually even cancer. One of the researchers, Tatsuro Kawamura, says future smart toilets will compile and compare medical results day by day, allowing doctors to spot important changes.

    I'd be interested in hearing more about this. Will it store the information locally or be hooked up to a network? How will it know who's using the toilet? Who's to say they won't test for drugs or something in the future? This could get pretty invasive.
  • About 5 years ago when I was an entry level web developer (ya, we used Dreamweaver... bleh) I worked on http://www.toilettech.com/ [toilettech.com]. I still work with the designer who made the animation and logo :-).

  • Yes, I had one when I lived in Japan (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Once you get used to them, they really are hard to give up. Ours had a heated seat, something very valuable when you have no central heating and the temperature drops below freezing occasionally.

    They are especially nice when you have the runs. You know, when you have to go to the heads all day, and by the end toilet paper might as well be sandpaper, for the effect it has on your sensitive tissues.

    Japanese toilets also have (this is ALL toilets, not just the high-tech ones) two flush types: turn the handle one way for a small flush (#1), turn it the other way for a big flush (#2). Simple, environmentally friendly, and good for water bills. Why on earth don't we have them everywhere -- not to mention in the US, where I understand that flush volumes are limited by law. After all, if the average of all flushes is lower, that should be good enough, right?

    Graham

  • here in Osaka (Score:5, Informative)

    by Grummet ( 161532 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:16AM (#3263722)
    where I have been living for the last 8 years,
    I would have to say that I would be particularly upset without my electric toilet seat.
    No, I am not kidding.

    Here is why:
    The typical house in Japan is designed for summer and as such as neither 1) central heating nor 2) insulation in the walls. Hence, as you can imagine, that toilet is literally hovering at a temperature just above freezing (0 for most of the world 32 for you in the USA) so sitting on one that is not electrically heated is shocking, to say the least.

    Now, on to my review:

    First off, aside from its warmth features, the electric toilet seat has two particularly nice options which I would recommend to anyone with a hairy ass.
    - One: On most of these toilets there is a nozzle that will spray warm water (although you can control the temperature) where the sun don't shine (and pasty things occasionally get mixed with hairs). The location of the nozzle is controlled via a knob (along with all of the other controls) on the right side of the toilet seat.
    Oh, so yes, most (read 99.9999%) of these seats are for the right handed. As far as I know you would have to order a lefty as they are not available in stock here.

    --Two: There is a blow dryer that kicks in automatically after that nozzle is done spraying. You can usually control the length of time for the drying bit.

    There are of course higher end models that have fragrances, soaps, feminine hygene related options (frontal nozzles and such) which all cost more.

    A recent visit to Kojima ( a national electrics chain) resulted in a basic price range of $250 to $900 US (of course I exchanged that from yen ).

    There are some problems I could see with selling these in America, not the lest of which is that you would need to get a power outlet installed next to your toilet. This is not something I recall ever having seen in my 22 years in the US so, if you ask me this is the core problem beyond any other related to marketing.

    This is rather like the problem that US makers of air conditioners had selling their products in Asia - which is quite funny actually.
    Perhaps some of you are aware of this, but I will bring it up just as a final aside and a testament to the inability of companies to make internationally feasible products:
    In Japan, at least, air conditioners are bolted to the wall, high, up close to the ceiling. As such no one can operate them without a remote control. As you can imagine the US based makers did not research the use of the product ("of course, they use the same machines the same way we do") so all of the controls were on the AC itself.
    It still cracks me up to think about it: forcing people to climb on chairs to adjust the temperature - that might just bite in to your market share a bit don't you think? Duh.

    Forgetting to resolve problems of fundamental things like usage in the actual users environment will never get you anything other than a thinner wallet.

    If I were a worker at Toto I would re-evaluate the usage of the toilet seat in my target market first.

    But, oh well, I am not a marketer.

    back to work--

    Jeff (by the way, Grummet used to mean, where I grew up, 5 pounds of shit in a 1 pound bag. odd that it applies here some how)

    P.S. You may be wondering about those air conditioners, which happen to be off the topic a little, but here is one last anecdote, they are also used as heaters in winter but only do a wonderful job of heating the upper half (up to just below the ceiling ) part of the room so it is usually freezing in the part of the room where everyone spends most of their time: the floor.
    Pretty smart, huh?

    • Re:here in Osaka (Score:3, Funny)

      by Jordy ( 440 )
      I was in Tokyo for the first time back in August and had my first encounter with an electric toilet. Unfortunately, all the writing was in Japanese so I tried to go by picture.

      After I was done, I figured that one of the buttons kind of looked like it was some sort of self-cleaning mechanism. So I hit it while standing up facing the toilet.

      A small white nozzle popped out and proceeded to spray me and the door of the bathroom with a rather strong blast of water. Since the 'stop' button was also in Japanese, by the time I finally figured out how to shut the damn thing off I was completely soaked.
  • You've probably heard this, but it fits with the high tech toilets post:

    A man was at a theater and before the show, he desperately had to go to the washroom. He went to the men's room but it was out of order. He really urgently needed to use it and some women employees nearby noticed his predicament and told him to use the ladies' room, but he must NOT not touch any buttons on the wall.

    He really has to go so he enters the washroom and does his business. There are four buttons on the wall labelled "WW" , "HA" , "PP" and "ATR" .

    Of course he gets curious and, really, would anyone know if he touched one? So he presses WW and a spray of warm water washed his buttocks. "WOW!" he thought. This was great! Obviously WW stood for 'warm water.' He quickly pressed "HA" and hot air was fanned from the plumbing to dry him off.

    Clearly this ladies' washroom, unlike the dull men's room, was a place of luxury! He pressed "PP" and a powder puff was applied to his underside, making him feel very nice indeed.

    Finally, expecting the greatest pleasure from the last button ... he pressed ATR.

    The next thing the guy saw was a nurse looking up at him with a smirking kind of expression. He was in a hospital bed. He said, "What happenned? The last thing I remember was the ladies' washroom..." The nurse replied, "You pressed one too many buttons. ATR stands for 'automatic tampon removal'. Your penis is under your pillow."

  • Seat Warmer (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Cire ( 96846 )
    The seat warmer part is really weird. When I was in Japan I used one and it always felt as if some really huge guy had been sitting on it for two hours just before I got there.

    Cire
  • Japan has both very high-end, high-tech toilets, and low-end squat-over-a-hole-in-the-floor toilets as well. I've had a chance to use both, and I posted some reviews, with pictures!

    http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/toilets/

    About the electric toilets, the basic feature that's quite common, even without the spray, etc, is a heated toilet seat. Which makes a lot of sense and makes for great comfort first thing on a winter morning. There are a lot of heated toilet seats without all the gadgetry here, and when I visit home and my buttocks shiver when I sit I appreciate these devices. Of course it's all superfluous, nothing totally necessary, just like toilet paper, right? You can always use one of your hands and then wash it afterwards. But as long as you're going to go for comfort, you might as well have heated toilet seats as well as toilet paper.
    • The house I'm moving into way out in the sticks (in Japan of course) has a "horiben" (which is an in-house outhouse).

      Human excrement has to be retrieved via a hole outside the house using what is literally a scoop and a pail, and buried in the garden.

      Toilet paper may not be flushed. After you wipe yourself, you must throw it in the wastebasket and burn it with all the other burnable trash.

      And the house uses only water from a well, so there is no way there would be enough water for toilet flushing. Hence my decision to put in the composting toilet.
  • I love that portable toto device, "made especially for people on the go"! Wow, I bet it took 50 takes before they could say that with a straight face. ROFL

  • Urinal-ysis? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Junior J. Junior III ( 192702 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:27AM (#3263796) Homepage
    So now drug users are going to start peeing in sinks, garbage cans, open drains, dark corners...

    Just fucking great. Thanks, scientists! Now we can't even have some fucking privacy when we take a leak>:\

    And by "we" I mean EVERYONE, not just drug users. How soon til the toilet detects you've got diabetes and tattles on you to the insurance companies?

  • Japan is turning into... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Rayonic ( 462789 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:28AM (#3263805) Homepage Journal
    ...one big adventure game. You know, like Myst or Monkey Island. It's getting to the point that you can't even go to the toilet without figuring out some kind of logic puzzle.

    I guess it could be worse, it could be turning into a big platform game. Watch out for those spinning blades!

  • Toilet Review (Score:5, Informative)

    by saru78 ( 231988 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:49AM (#3263931) Homepage
    Everyone seems to have a pretty negative opinion but these toilets are pretty nice. The have one of the newer Toto models installed in my office in Yokohama.

    The first impression you get of the shining white porcelain gadget is the motion sensor activated seat. (Obiviously designed with all those people who are too crippled to lift the seat cover on their own but still miraculously find their way into the bathroom) Swing open the door and you will be greeted by a soothing mechanical whirr as the seat cover goes up. After wiping down the seat with provided disinfectant from the design coordinated dispenser (also a product of toto) You are greeted by a fairly quick change in tempurature from icy cold (Insulation in Japan sucks and central heat does not seem to be of interest in bathrooms here [read: DAMN COLD]) to a pleasant or shall we say encouraging warm tempurature. Not a bad touch. Very good contour to cradle you poor senstive ass after being abused by an office chair everyday. I don't think I need to mention that actual process of 'making a deposit in the bank' as it would seem rather independant of the technology.

    And now on to the real fun. I had always assumed that all sorts of water jets and blowers and stuff were for some kind of euro-hippy freak but one terribly hung-over morning at the office I decided to take the challege and 'test' the water jet. I was very impressed by the nice features incorporated into the jet alone. The water tempurature angle and water pressure are all independantly adjustable to suit all body sizes and 'consistancies' (for lack of a better word). I felt rather clean, refreshed and not unpleasant at all, after all it saved me the trouble of wiping!

    Being a curious, I have experimented with the jet mechanism at a later date and discovered that at maximum pressure activting the jet while not being seated results in an entertaining water jet that easily crosses to the far side of the stall with little loss of angle or tradjectory. Then by adjusting the angle mechanism I realized that the jet could easily reach tie or even face levels of the average male and realized the potential for an excellent prank hack. (It would really be a shame if someone rigged a trigger to the stall door, wouldn't it...).

    Following the encounter with the water jet anyone would realize the need for a drying mechanism as toilet paper does not respond well to moisture. As with the water jet the dryer/blower also has adjustments for angle tempurate and air pressure making for a quick and pleasant drying experience. After multiple test runs timing revealed that the dryer could generally complete its task in 25-35sec with no discomfort. (When placed under time constraints the dryer could produce sufficient lack of moisture in a record time of roughly 12.6 seconds but would not be classified as in the 'comfort zone'.)

    Due to being of the male variety and forseeable sloppiness, I could not test but give due note to a full set of water jets and dryers located in the front of the toilet to satisfy the needs of our geek friends who do not a twig and berries nor wedding tackle. The frontal jets were also adjustable for tempurature, angle and pressure leading me to the assumption that they would provide appropriate customization to satify most body shapes and preferences. (Unfortunately no ladies were willing to comment on the functionality of the frontal jets)

    From an overall view-point I was very pleased with the performance of this toto model (sorry no model number available at this time) however in the office environment one problem was noticable. Often a venture to the 'techo-head', as I affectionately refer to it, revealed that the settings were often adjusted to preferences other than my own and would require some fine tuning before use to provide the optimal bathroom experience. I realized that it lacked the ability to create presets for individual 'users'. This model lacks the ability to present controls and the small number of analog controls would allow one to assume that presets would not be feasible with out a major redesign of the interface and circuitry. In the event that presets did become a option it would be very convenient to register these settings in a directory server. All in all I would give it 4 out of 5 Johns because of the lack of a presets and still some room in the concept to mature but all together a very pleasant dump.

    As I cannot afford to be slashdotted, pictures of the jet mechanisms and control panels as well as model numbers and information will be available by email. Send mail to SCE(at)SUBDIMENSION(dot)COM with 'techno-head' in the subject line and I will send you the photos etc.

  • Americans don't need high-tech toilets (Score:3, Informative)

    by MtViewGuy ( 197597 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @12:56AM (#3263975)
    I think these Japanese toilets are a bit overkill for Americans, especially when you consider most American homes don't suffer the issue of really cold toilet seats.

    What I do want is toilets that flush completely in only 1.6 gallons of water per flush. This was a major problem with the early water-saving toilets, since often you had to flush twice to flush the toilet bowl cleanly. I believe it was Kohler that first corrected this problem with very careful design of the way water circulates in the toiler bowl during the flush cycle. I know that some toilet makers resorted in using pressurized water tanks (I kid you not!), but I'm not sure if the potential for mechanical trouble is worth it.
    • I have one of these 1.6 gallon marvels. One flush will completely cycle the most colorful dumps every time. The large capacity toilets just don't flush right compared to this and often require another flush.

    • Re: Kohler. I have to put in a plug for the low-flush Kohler toilets. I moved into a new house recently, and replaced 4 of the toilets. My old house had a cheap low-flush toilet that I DETESTED. It always plugged up, and never seemed to flush it all the way.

      These new Kohlers do a pretty damn good job. I can't say the never plug up, but it's pretty rare and they almost never need a second flush.

  • AF? (Score:2)

    by smoon ( 16873 )
    This smells like an april fools so bad I think one of those nozzles should hose this story down where the sun don't shine.

    :)

  • Well... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Wakko Warner ( 324 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @01:04AM (#3264020) Homepage Journal
    I prefer to drop all my deuces right here in the comments section of slashdot.

    I haven't used anything else as a toilet in years.

    - A.P.
  • is a toilet that flushes my doodies down the first time. I just bought a new house, and if I had known better, I would have brought my turbo-toilet with me.
  • I can't believe no one has posted a link to the Bumper Dumper [bumperdumper.com] yet. That's right - you too can get a toilet seat that hooks up to a trailer hitch for dumping comfort when you're out in the woods. Simply plug it in and park your truck over a hole.

    Yes, I'm serious, and yes, that link is real!

  • As important isit is to me for a toilet to analyze my urine and play a fake flushing sound, I just don't think that many Americans (myself included) would want to to anything with a toilet but pull the handle and leave the bathroom to get less distracting things done.

  • Please (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Bnonn ( 553709 )
    Come on people. It's a toilet. Is there such thing as having too much money, do you think, or is that blasphemy in our modern, apathetic and greed-based society? I understand that there are some instances where this would be genuinely useful (for example, the poster who mentioned living in freezing conditions, where the warmer was really helpful), but for the most part, isn't this perhaps just a good example of how lazy people in "civilised" countries are becoming? Once neural interfaces for typing become commonplace, all that's left to invent is a device to breathe and eat for you.

    Yeah, mod me down for being cynical about our great society and thinking this kind of money could actually be put to use in places it's really needed. Sorry for not being a narcissist.

  • Having spent a couple years in Japan teaching English, I would like to share my experiences with the rest of Slashdot.

    Basically, I think it comes down to the fact that the Japanese are fastidiously hygenic. I dont' mean to imply that Americans and Europeans are not, but the Japanese take it to a new, almost obsessive-compulsive level. I may be reading too much into this, but I think this hygine compulsion has a lot to do with why they spend so much time creating the perfect commode.

    Then again, given a large segment of Japanese society enjoys gross japscat porn it could be just the opposite as the above. :)
    • The obsession with cleanliness in Japan is fairly recent (Since the Taisho period about 80 years old, (so says NHK)).

      Go to the countryside sometime and you can see old ladies peeing standing up by the side of the road. You know, out the back, like a cow.
  • I plan on getting one of these [compostingtoilet.com].

    They require no water, no chemicals, use hardly any electricity (just enough to power a fan), and produce a dry, odorless white powder that you can use in your garden.

    Very keen.
  • If the diplomat had even first-year Japanese skills, he should have been able to read the kanji "dai" and "sho" (big & little) on the flush lever.
    Dai is for "daiben" and Sho is for "shoben" (ie pee-pee and poo-poo.) Not too hard to figure out.

  • The other one (Score:2, Interesting)

    by max1969 ( 570241 )
    My SO (Female) had one at her parents home. They have a feature which helps clean during her period. And it helps after making love.

    M
  • It was first introduced when that dirty astronaut, Steve Birchwood, went to France. It was an electric bottom washer. It was a lot like a normal bottom washer except it burned it off. Upright Citizens Brigade [uprightcitizens.org]

  • Hi-tech (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lord Sauron ( 551055 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @01:33AM (#3264172)
    Nothing beats THIS [molina.com.br]
  • I guess it's officially a "Slow News Day" at Slashdot when they get into Toilet Reviews.

    Did I oversleep and Slashdot has rebranded itself to "News for Home Builders. Stuff that Sells." or what?

    Sheesh!

  • Japan is amazing... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by SoupaFly ( 558227 )
    I lived there for a couple of years and had a great time. I fully agree with others who have actually experienced the high tech toilets, they are really nice.

    The one thing I thought was really interesting though was that they have these ultra-high tech toilets.. and then there are the ultra-low tech toilets. Basically nothing more than a porcelain hole. You literally have to squat down to use it because there is no seat. and you'd better not lose your balance.

  • Just when you thought Slashdot hit bottom... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Bowie J. Poag ( 16898 ) on Monday April 01, 2002 @02:03AM (#3264319) Homepage


    Incase you missed it, here's the whole Ask Slashdot article summed up in two lines:

    "Dear Slashdot....I enjoy jets of water shot at my anus, and i'm willing to pay the big bucks for it!! Any suggestions?"

    Think about the sum total of what you've just read, then maybe it will hit you. Slashdot certainly isnt what it used to be, is it....And you thought Yahoo Internet Life was bad? Welcome to the new Slashdot, folks -- What once was the proud sentinel of geekdom has been reduced to running stories on toilets. Sure smacks of "stuff that matters" to me, I tell ya. Anyway, before you go off and moderate me down for being off-topic or trollsome, ask yourself this: How many other articles were rejected (re: meaningful, important articles, peoples work, interesting points of view, etc.) so that this story could make it in? On Easter, of all days. Simply charming.

    Surprisingly, i'm not trying to troll here. I'm trying to make a point. Just a day or two ago, I had written to Ask Slashdot regarding the issue of Linux on the desktop, and whether it was truly fair to call it "dead", when infact viable, stable, professional-quality desktops are available for Linux. HP certainly doesnt think the Linux desktop is dead -- They bundle GNOME with HP-UX. IBM isn't crazy either; They bundle both KDE -and- GNOME in AIX... So whats all the hub-bub about Linux being dead on the desktop? But, nope, we cant discuss that.....Not here on Slashdot. There are more important things to address in a public forum such as this..

    Like how to have jets of water shoot at our anuses.

    Cheers,
    • "Think about the sum total of what you've just read, then maybe it will hit you. Slashdot certainly isnt what it used to be"

      Although it is correct to say that Slashdot's not what it is used to be and there are better sources of geek news (not that I would tell, go find your own weblog), it is not particularlly relevent in this case. You see in the States it is April Fools and this is the PERFECT troll article for such an day. I applaud the poster for his attention to detail and abiltiy to BS with such seriousness as to seem like an ask Slashdot should be.

      Anyhow if you don't like what Slashdot has become, you can always stop reading it. It's not like you have a personal vested interest in Slashdot.

    • Re:Just when you thought Slashdot hit bottom... (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You could use some water jets. It might wash the stick out of your ass.
  • So I'm looking at the pretty pictures on the first link and click the Features Menu link thinking I'll get a list of features for the johns. Up pops the AIDS in Zimbabwe page. If AIDS is a feature of the toilet, I really don't want one!
  • This story was posted an hour and fourteen minutes too early...
  • I've actually used one of these, and it was in America. I was attending the Macworld conference in NYC a couple of years ago, and Apple was paying for my room at the RIHGA Royal Hotel, which, by the way, is a really classy place (on a bit of a side note, it was the only hotel not detailed in my New York City Book of Hotels, because the author could not afford to spend a night there), so thank you Apple. But anyway, the toilet in the hotel room had a rather imposing control panel built into it and an array of squirt guns near water level. I immediately went straight for the Unidentified Shitholding Object, and gave it a whirl. Let me just say, that this thing is amazing. Mine seemed to adjust its water guns to the shape of my ass without any help from me (or else the cleaning women were clairvoyant), and the control panel consisted of orders on whether or not to stop or go or toast my buns to a nice golden brown. Of course I used that option.

    It might be a bad idea to put these in an office building: people wouldn't want to go back to their cubicles, preferring to chill in the stalls.

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