Now this is interesting. We hear all the time about Asian cultures being so far ahead of the West in math and science and certain other skills educationally. And now we find that they are somewhat toilet-challenged as a result of cultural attitudes.

In other words, they understand Toyotas but not toilets. I would not have guessed this.

This article depresses me. As far as we have come with physics, astronomy, chemistry, and molecular boitechnology, I shed a tear for each little Japanese boy who isn't versed in restroom etiquite(sp?). How can one be raised without the knowlege of TP conservatism and urinal flushing?
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Yes, those are my brown spots. Yes, those are your walls.

Why not put the same toilets in schools? And as far as teaching little boys how to pee, well, peeing with Dad is a really easy way to learn. It's too bad women are left to it all.

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"Double the flush, double the fun" --The Amazing Anus

Double Flush, I could not agree more. One of Mr. daphne's favorite child-rearing memories is the one I mentioned about Mardi Gras in the forums where he and Thing One pee on the side of a building that would not allow Thing One to enter for the sake of using the potty.

My husband taught the little guy to pee, and it was a natural thing. To think that there's a culture that doesn't see the bonding and love involved with helping a little guy get his "shit together" in the bathroom is really depressing.

One last note....the part Dave mentioned about how no one wants to help their neighbor because it's something to lord over the other family -that your child is potty trained and theirs isn't- shows the real pettiness of our human race. To feel better about yourself, you'd hamper a a child's developement? Dude, that's cold.

Dave, super article. I think we should keep tabs on this in time to come......

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.....hugging bunnies since 1969
www.daphneszoo.com

people are crazy. but with technology comes problems like this, i imagine people in other parts of the world share our feelings, however not toward the japanese towards us. i don't properly know how to use a squatter or take a dump in a hole, because i've always had the technology at home of a flusher. but the problem is that the ammenities the japanese have in their home aren't 100% well, vital, to defecation, they need to sorta teach their kids how to dump with a cold toilet seat and how to wipe without going through an entire role. as far as the urinal thing goes, although i know i must have been taught it seems like straight nature, and i have no memory of it.

I`d be scared to use one of those high-tech Jap shitters. I`d worry that it was going to give me a full heavy duty washing machine cycle before sucking me down the pan.

I just think that there are some things that the East and the West will NEVER understand about each other. We just have SUCH different mentalities.

Very interesting read, Chief Dave!
Boxy, you crack me up!
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Mmmm...Fiber: Nature's Broom!

I wonder what it would be like now if the technology used to make these toilets had been around for the past 100 years instead of the last ten. Would the Japanese be potty trained at all by age of 5 now, or would they be even worse?

What seems to be happening is that this phenomenom is new because of the technology, and that the next generation could really be different than the others before it. We are possibly seeing cultural toilet history.

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.....hugging bunnies since 1969
www.daphneszoo.com

Toilets themselves are no more vital to defecation than Japanese toilet features. I rather wish I had a squatter at my place just because I squat anyway and perching on the toilet seat is somewhat precarious. Going in the woods can be quite a satisfying experience, especially if your bowels have been knocking while you're on a hike.

daphne wrote: "We are possibly seeing cultural toilet history."

I agree with you all the way. If you think about it, this is a whole new era. Even at my age of 19, I can tell things are moving at a much faster pace than they used to. The main thing is computers. Everyone has one now, and bandwidth keeps increasing. Every day, someone ditches their modem for DSL, their DSL for cable, or with businesses, T1 for T3, or T3 for optical. With this, everything else follows suit. There are so many new products and product changes nowadays that no one can even keep up anymore! There has even been an explosion in new soft drinks. Take a look down the soda aisle at your local supermarket and see how many brands (or new blends) you have yet to see before. It's totally expected, at least for me, that toilets do like everything else and change rapidly, improving along the whole way. For years upon years, the modern toilet had its huge tank and flushed by gravity. Then came the low-flows, then the pressurized flush, and now there are so many different types that I can't even keep up.

Lastly, thank you daphne for helping me derail this one.

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"Double the flush, double the fun" --The Amazing Anus

I stiill maintain that we should never trust the Japs. Specially their toilets.

Derailing is second nature to me. I'm looking into shock treatment therapy or something that uses Beethoven's 5th as a little deterrent.......

This would be a good time for Adrianne Aaron to chime in with her opinion of this, seeing as she's Japanese. Wonder where she is, our little friend.
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.....hugging bunnies since 1969
www.daphneszoo.com

"Thunderbox (214) -- 07.27.2006
'I stiill maintain that we should never trust the Japs. Specially their toilets.'..."

Okay, TRYING to stay SORT OF on topic... the comedienne, Margaret Cho, had an act and a short-lived sitcom in which she expounded on the quirks of living in America in a Korean family. There was one scene where Margaret is asked to pass a bowl of food. She passes it to the side of her body with one hand, and the entire assembly gasps in abject horror. She rolls her eyes, turns her body toward the recipient, and brings her other arm across her body so as to be touching the bowl with BOTH hands. The group, which had been collectively holding it's breath, lets out a huge sigh of relief that Margaret corrected her serving posture.

My point (and I do have one, honest) is that while I'm not automatically suspicious of the Japanese, I do view them with a whopping dose of bafflement. You could spend a lifetime studying WHAT Asians believe, but I don't think Westerners will ever understand WHY they do some of the things they do.
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Mmmm...Fiber: Nature's Broom!

Interesting comment about Cho, GGG. Since that short-lived comedy in which she was presented as the All-American Asian girl, Cho has come out of the closet. So, in addition to questioning and going against the attitudes and practices of her culture, she has also attempted to validate her orientation.

Neither of which is an easy task. In spite of it all, Cho remains a pretty funny woman. I caught her last HBO special and laughed my ass off.

I have been called upon by Dave to give my expert opinions on this matter. Also, I have just finished toilet training my kid so I think I can add something to this discussion.
1. I will never deny the sheer pleasure of the Washlet. Nothing beats it. I don't think it promotes shame, but rather it lets you enjoy a poop well done. I mean, use the enema effect of the jets to really get that empty colon feeling.
That being said, the Japanese shame factor is widespread, so perhaps me being American does not give the full picture on this matter.

2. In Japan, kid raising is left up to the moms, as was states, but moreso it is left up to teachers. Japan is a group society. Everyone is expected to adhere to certain unwritten policies. As such, there is a lot of hand-holding (literally and figuratively) in all levels of society. This may lead to kids who can't go without help, but the ultimate responsibility should lie with the parents.
3. My kid doesn't use the washlet. He uses the toilet, but I have not showed him how to use the butt washer. In fact, I don't think it senses he is on the pot because he doesn't cover the whole hole. I also don't think kids need a washlet because, well, they have tiny bumholes and a slick wipe will do the trick. On the other hand, he has started demanding I wipe him with wipes instead of paper, so there is the wimpy issue at hand. I remember Doniker (maybe?) talk of his daughter that would only wipe with the expesive lotion filled wipes. I feel your pain, man!
4. I ask that we all try to avoid overgeneralization. IT is easy to say the Japanese are shameful shitters, but once you have lived in country for a while and get past the veneer of the society, you will make those lasting friendships with Japanese people that will allow you to even broach the subject of shitting. Because in the end, I feel that we are all one in the same on this planet.
I mean, a Japanese guy named Gomi Taro, wrote a book about it. It's called "Everybody Poops."

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Happy trails,
L. Wrong
Chairman & CEO, PPK Industries

I thought they had trouble pooping because of their slanty butt holes.

Hey! Just kidding!
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Sir SamDamnit!
The Emir of Crapistan

wait...the japanese know nothing of one-ply? they've never been raped by paper? oh this is not right.