Receive an email a day with our articles:One could mistake them for instruments of torture, but Japanese toilets are a small wonder of the most scatological technology possible.Manufacturers like Toto have become the Dyson or the Apple of the sector, but these advances do not gel in the Western world.And that even Bill Gates has tried to promote innovation in this segment recently.I'm sure you've heard of them and seen them in action.You may have tried in your flesh those toilets that save water, allow you to avoid the use of toilet paper that is irreplaceable in the West and also have many other advantages, such as being always warm for when we visit the toilet.With so many virtues, why hasn't the Japanese toilet conquered the rest of the world?Japanese toilets or toilets have been well known for years.Those who travel to Japan have the opportunity to use them repeatedly because they are everywhere there, and in fact a Priceonomics article revealed how in 2012 72% of Japanese households had one of these toilets.Quartz has an even more recent stat: it was 76% in 2014.The models that appeared in the late 1990s have been called washlets ever since, and they did so as a mix of our traditional bidets and toilets.However, in Japan they wanted to go further, and in addition to combining both functions, they wanted to implement new ones that made the experience of going to the bathroom something totally different from what we know in the rest of the world.For starters there is that integrated bidet feature which can certainly be scary to use: a menacing looking tube appears from the back of the bowl and jets of water come out to clean the anus and even the vulva in case of use by women. .The threatening jet ends up convincing those who try it, especially because it allows for a more effective cleaning and also avoids the use of toilet paper, although it can be complemented with this last element.You can adjust the pressure and even the temperature of the jet, as well as the position of a jet that is surprisingly accurate if you have tried it (I did it years ago).If you don't want to use paper, washlets also incorporate drying systems with adjustable temperatures, in addition to seat heaters, lighting systems (very useful for night visits to the toilet) or even proximity detectors that open or close as you go. to the user's position.The technical innovations of these toilets have not stopped there: Toto showed years ago how its "Tornado Flush" system is an effective substitute for pressing the button on the cistern that improves toilet cleaning and also saves huge amounts of water.The company in fact collaborates with academia to evaluate new technologies for the cistern in which they even make use of supercomputers to model the physics of water.Added to these improvements are even those that affect our health: the manufacturers claim that the jets help in cases of hemorrhoids and constipation, but in addition to this, the latest product generations include sensors that allow blood sugar to be measured based on urine or even pulse, blood pressure or body fat content.And if you are worried about bad smells, there is also a solution for that, because the so-called ozone deodorization applied in some models helps to eliminate this problem efficiently and quickly according to the manufacturers.With all these advantages - and surely we forget some - what is surprising is that these toilets have not been a success outside of Japan.The reasons are several, and the language is probably one of them.The Japanese symbols and texts for these mugs - if you travel there you can buy one and bring it with you without too much trouble - made it difficult to use it outside the Asian country, but two years ago the Japanese manufacturers reached an agreement to standardize those symbols and texts.As explained in 2016 on the UnGatoNipón blog, there are some important reasons for the limited success of these washlets outside of Japan:There are other drawbacks that are not practical, but social.As some manufacturers such as the Kohler or Brondell firms in the United States pointed out, these types of toilets have not convinced users because "convincing someone to change their habits in the use of toilet paper, which are ingrained in them since childhood, It's hard to say the least."Engadget's summary was clear: everyone poops, but no one wants to talk about it.In the Financial Times they spoke of another additional barrier: the cost.Most Western households do not invest that much in a toilet and the price of even the basic version of these solutions is high.Despite all this, it is not impossible to access one of these products, and in fact in Spain the Roca company has "intelligent toilets" that, for example, take advantage of In-Wash technology that washes with water and have the rest of the functions that they are already common in Japanese toilets.The price, yes, is much higher, and the Roca In-Wash has an official price of 1,921 euros.There are alternatives, and here it is inevitable not to mention Xiaomi.A few months ago, the company that we all know above all for its smartphones and electronic devices recently presented a toilet bowl that precisely allowed us to have some of the options of Japanese toilets more economically.His Smartmi Small Smart Toilet Seat can be found in stores like eBay for 209 euros, for example.The options are there - some begin to integrate even voice assistants - but it does not seem that outside of Japan we are too willing to make the change to a system that seems to convince those who try it.Share The Japanese toilet is an invention: these are the reasons why it has hardly caught on in the Western worldMore Sites You'll LikeSee more articlesSee more videos