Toto’s new website aims to push the Washlet to North Americans
November 16, 2007
By Ken Worsley
We’ve written about Toto brand toilets before here. Back in April, during a post concerning a string of fires caused by Toto’s products, I wrote, “I’ve never much liked the ‘Washlet,’ as the toilet/bidet hybrid is called in Japan. I had one experience where I tried to take one apart to figure out how it worked and ended up getting soaked in the process.”
Toto wants to change my mind, and the minds of thousands of people living in North America who have not given the ‘Washlet’ serious consideration when making bathroom purchasing decisions. To that end, the company has launched a new website, called “Clean is Happy.”
The website opens complete with a Flash file showing several rear ends with smily faces drawn over them. The screenshot I got even happens to have a tattooed bum. (Enlarge for better view)
My favorite line of the Flash movie? For “that happy washlet feeling, click here.”
Toto’s been making a push for some time to get North Americans to buy this product. While I fully endorse the use of the Warmlet, which pretty much makes winter in Japanese office buildings survivable, I’m still cool on the Washlet.
The site itself might end up “going viral” (no, links from this site don’t count), 
but it seems as though Toto’s real goals are to 1) Raise awareness of its products (which I endorse in the form of the Warmlet, not the Washlet), and 2) Humanize the process of going to the toilet by making it sort of silly and cute.
After all, who wrote Everyone Poops?
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I’m just the opposite of you, Ken. I’ve grown used to the Warmlet, but got this creepy feeling like someone had pissed on the seat when I first used it. As for the Washlet, though - I was converted the first time I used one, in a hotel the first time I visited Japan.
I wouldn’t dream of not having a Washlet (or similar product) at home. I went out and picked up an Inax Shower Toilet ASAP after moving into an apartment so uncivilized as to have a toilet that would leav me with cling-ons and a dirty backside. Wiping with paper alone leaves one with a dirty backside. The Washlet makes every movement a no-wiper. Toilet paper use becomes mostly a formality to get the bit of water there off.
I am baffled by the aversion so many Westerners show to having clean asses.
A few years ago, there was a great Toto ad campaign in Japan - in front of a black background, prominent actors would say - quite seriously - “I want my behind to be clean.”
Yeah, I like the warmlet, but also don’t like that initial ‘who just vacated this?’ feeling. As for the washlet well, it does help with mild constipation, to relax the zone so to speak. I’d never use a washlet in a public facility though - too many cling ons on the nozzle which really does need cleaning regulary. I removed an ancient, first generation washlet from the house I am now living in - I know what I’m talking about. For Brits, H2o and 240v do not mix very well so there is this understandable aversion to plugging anything in the bathroom. It won’t catch on there for a very very long time, if ever.
Not to get all pedantic, but. . .
Well, no, actually. To get pedantic, the UK uses 240V at 5A, whereas Japan and North America use 100-120V at 10A (sometimes as much as 15 in the US), which is the same wattage, which means the same amount of “current.” If anything, a lower voltage at a higher amperage is going to pack more whallop if and when it hits you. On top of that, the UK, just like Japan and North America has separate grounds and GFCI, as well as circuit breakers - any one of those functioning properly will mean that the likelihood of getting shocked is slim. Likewise, if one does get a shock, it would most likely be while plugging in or unplugging the device with wet hands, which is unpleasant, but rarely dangerous to healthy adults. Toilets don’t generally produce much out-of-the-bowl splash.
I’m with you on the public toilet thing, Jim. Since I’m being all pedantic, though, newer varieties of Washlet have self-cleaning nozzles and, in most models, the nozzle is not directly beneath the “sweet spot” at any point, although anything in an often warm, damp area is going to get nasty fairly quickly.
I’m still firmly of the opinion that the benefits quite vastly outweigh the drawbacks.
Apparently a problem Toto has had in the US is insufficient training of plumbers on the installation. It’s remarkably simple, but pros like to be sure they’re covered. Then, of course, there are the prohibitive prices Washlets are retailing for in the US. If people aren’t familiar with it and are skeptical of it, they’re certainly not going to pay top-dollar for it, especially if they’ve gotten as far as they are with crusty, dirty cracks.
Thanks Garrett for being pedantic, I never really did get the current/voltage thing. But from my memory, many WC’s in the UK don’t actually have electric sockets - one would need to be fitted. This hassle and expense would put a lot of people off.
I think that apart from the above points, the Brits generally degenerate into schoolboy humour mode when anything about the anus is talked about. There was a popular comedy series called ‘Bottom’. And remember the movie ‘Zulu’ when Michael Caine said “They don’t like it up ‘em” - he meant the Zulu’s, but it could equally be applied to Brits. But then, perhaps this a feature of many cultures?
Correction - I’m pretty sure it was Corporal Jones in ‘Dad’s Army’ who said ‘They don’t like it up ‘em’
I think you’re dead-on there. And I think it is a feature of many cultures.
If you’re interested, Volts x Amperage= Wattage, which is what tells you how much power you’re getting. Simply speaking, power stations produce voltage, which is amped at a transformer somewhere near the home, then “divided up” by the breaker panel.
I’m just the opposite of you, Ken. I’ve grown used to the Warmlet, but got this creepy feeling like someone had pissed on the seat when I first used it.
It’s warm, not wet.
I would drag my balls through two miles of glass
just to see dat arse all the way on the right there
in person. Lick datass baby. Sorry obviously not
getting anything here at home…
If we are going to be pedantic
which means the same amount of “current.”
It should be “power”.
I am not a fan of the systems but my wife loves them so when we go overseas I will have to get one installed. I don’t know about the US but in Australia and I believe the UK the building codes have restrictions on where power points can be installed, normally not within a certain distance of a water source and this might cause problems with getting one installed. Also most existing houses don’t have a power point available in the toilet so it is necessary to get both an electrician and a plumber to install the washlet.