Like Big Butts?

June 27th, 2007
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Toto (US, Japan), the famous Japanese luxury plumbing fixture company is at it again. Advertising Age had a quick writeup about a new ad campaign over Times Square in New York City involving giant butts.

On July 1, the Toto Washlet company will unveil a giant two-story billboard wrapped around three sides of a Times Square building. And on that billboard will be giant two-storied rears, smiling down on the city. Why are they smiling?

Because the Toto Washlet is moder-day [sic] miracle of science (according to the press release). It “upgrades a standard U.S. toilet to state-of-the-art in personal hygiene. It cleans and dries with aerated water and warm air (both adjustable, via wireless remote, for temperature and strength). While over 17 million have been sold worldwide, the U.S. remains an untapped market.”

Oh yes. They are at it again. This is the Clean is Happy Campaign. It’s catching eyes. I first became aware of Toto’s preoccupation with launching the Washlet stateside through Trans-Pacific Radio’s TPR News Podcast (16 May 2007). Washlets, for those who don’t know, are the crazy toilets with heated seats, remote controls, all manner of bidets and air-dry jets, which I suspect could make coffee or french fries if properly configured. Here’s what they had to say about the situation.

Every year or so, we see a PR piece disguised as news reporting making the claim that Japanese toilet maker Toto is hopeful that its bidets and warm-seated toilets will soon catch on with consumers in the United States. A recent Japan Times article that struck this observer as somewhat ‘cheeky’ reported:

In the United States, explosive sales are unlikely in the coming years…Some observers say the number of plumbers there well-versed in the installation of Washlets is still limited, making it hard for the company to offer adequate after-sale service.

This line was taken from the company’s website, “[The] Washlet is the kind of product whose popularity and demand grow through experience of use and word of mouth. (sic)”

Gotta say – I’m not sold on the notion of the American market receiving the Washlet with plaudits and confetti. Skeptical at least. All I know is that I like toilet paper, and I hate the disturbing moment of confusion when I sit down on a heated seat and imagine that someone has just been there. Eeew. So for me, clean may be happy, but my clean is attainable without the gizmos in a Washlet. If you’ve tried one, weigh in on this one. Do you think it’ll fly? :-)

Also, for those who missed it…my buddy Nick discovered one of the TMI-dark-secrets of Japan – why the Washlet is really so popular. To laugh and find yourself pretty disturbed, and discover what they mean by “pamper yourself” – read Nick’s account. It’s “fun”. :-D Ahem.

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  • TofuUnion
    The strength of America is importing the best peoples from all over the world. Japan doesn't.

    Generally, all the inventions start with kinds of imitations, but imitation is not invention at any rates. At most it could become innovation or reinvention. I think American set more value on invention. However, more and more Japanese are trying to invent new things.

    As for washlet, I once heard from a women(of about years of 35) that she found it simulating.
  • Um...nobody said it sucked. And I have tried it. Lived with a host family in Tokyo and a Toto Washlet for a year. And while we may poke fun at occasional oddities that the Japanese economy unleashes on the world, I don't see the trouble with that, either. Also - I don't spam people, no, and I find it sort of curious when people leave false addresses and whatnot. Sorry if this site makes you uncomfortable. Anyway, I think you should look around the rest of the site before castigating us all out of hand. Many of us live in Japan, many of us study Japan, and few of us harbor any ill will for Japan.

    And what you said might be true - that Japan imported, reinvented, and exported this. But how does that make it any less of a Japanese item? They've done the same with loads of stuff ever since the great isolationism ended. Kanji, "Western" clothes, public transportation, etc. If you rule out what Japan has borrowed and reinterpreted, then you rule out a huge chunk of Japan's cultural currency. (The same's true for America, though Japan is more famous for it - since they tend to import the ideas and not the people.) Thoughts?
  • no
    In Japan too at first nobody imagined it would become so widespread... All you guys are laughing about how Japanese are so weird and bizarre, but maybe in 20 years time you'll have eaten your words and wish washlets would have become popular sooner in the States... I mean, to say it sucks you need to try it first. And also the washlet is not a Japanese invention, it's like the walkman, Japanese people did not invent the radio. There was an American company who invented this device back in the 60's. Toto started importing them to Japan, then in the 80's they started making tehir own models.
  • You guys really seem to like it. Maybe I've not given it a fair shake. I just feel like it's invasive - like that part in Billy Madison where that bozo sits on the sprinkler - and the heated seat thing really does freak me out. But man, you guys seem to like it. Maybe Toto's right and this thing will take off in America. Ha ha.
  • I first used a Washlet back in early 2001 and found it funny; never felt the aversion to it that some seem to feel. A couple of years later, I got my first one at home and wouldn't consider not having one.
    TP alone is just nowhere near as clean - many movements that would be messy situations w/ TP alone can be cleanly washed away with a well-placed jet of water. A quick wipe afterwards leaves you cleaner than you could imagine if you haven't yet been converted.

    Scinetific breakthrough it is not, but the Washlet and its knock-offs (I have an Inax now) is the first advance in toilet technology in over 120 years - since the P-trap was invented to keep the sewer stink from wafting back up into your house.
  • When I knew the Washlet for the first time and it became popular, I also thought I never need it, I would never use it and I don’t want to use it. My husband wasn’t interested in it, either. Buuuut! We installed it for some reason. I don’t waste it and while using it, I started to feel its advantage little by little. I’d say it has reason to be popular.
    At any rate, I don’t wanna believe the story on the linked page about older women. Yuck. I am the same sex and am still shocked.

    The businessmen’s senryu(satirical haiku) contest for 2007 announced the top 10 a couple months ago and I read them in the paper. One of them is following.
    “Only the Washlet seat is warm(nice) to me.”

    私も初めてウォシュレットを知った時、そして普及し始めた時、私は絶対いらない、使わない、使いたくない、と思いました。うちのダンナも、全然興味を示しませんでした。しか～し！ある理由からウォシュレットを取り付け、もったいないから使用しているうちに、少しずつ利点を感じられるようになりました。流行るだけの理由はあるように思います。
    それにしてもリンク先の年配女性のお話はマジっすか？ゲッ。同性の私もショックです。

    2007年度サラリーマン川柳ベスト10に入選した句が、数ヶ月前に新聞に掲載されました。その中の一句。
    「このオレに　温かいの　は便座だけ」
  • In the winter I see the value of the heated seat, but it STILL freaks me out every time I sit down. Does your Washlet have a wireless remote control? I never really got that. The one at my host family's house was on the arm of the toilet. (Yes, it had arms, like a recliner. I know.) I've also seen them on the wall. That makes sense. Wireless, though...what are you going to flush from long distance? Have a habit of meandering about your place during nature's calls? What gives? :-P
  • Living with washlets for 3 years now, I can honestly say the only feature I use is the heated seat in the winter. Everything else is just there to confuse my friends who come to visit.
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