Japan raised a high-tech magic wand to the toilet
Washlet is a product invented in the West but has been very successful in Japan, and the author of this article, Thomas Ambrosini, provides an explanation for the success of this product in Japan by analyzing the Japanese culture's preference for cleanliness and Toto's marketing methods. The Bizarre Rise of Japan's High Tech Toilets
In public toilets, I'm afraid most people don't use the word "tranquility" to describe their feelings. A lot of people will use the word "disgusting"? Maybe. And anyone else will feel "embarrassed"? It's awkward to face each other. Or is there still a feeling of "shame"? Sometimes there is a loss.
But if you sit on a $600 Toto C100 Washlet in the bathroom of any department store in Tokyo and feel the warm touch coming from your hips, your feelings may change.
Frankly, the experience of going to the toilet in Japan is amazing, and you may have to ask: What do Westerners think when they sit on the toilet, and how did they miss this epiphany?
If you haven't experienced Washlet yet, let me give you Andrew. For the past 30 years, the West has been in the dark Middle Ages of toilet culture, while Japan has raised a high-tech magic wand to the toilet – led mainly by Toto's Washlet.
Washlet changed the rules of the game.
Want to lift the toilet lid but don't want to get your hands dirty? No problem, you just have to press a button. In winter, is the toilet seat too cold for your sensitive ass? Eh, there is a heated toilet ring button. Want a built-in sitz bath? Yes. Automatic deodorization? Yes.
All of these features mean a better toilet experience, cleaner and more comfortable than you normally would. Japanese people seem to think the same way, with the Wall Street Journal estimating that 70 percent of Japanese households have washlets installed.
Surprisingly, however, the washlet was an American invention. Originally designed for hospitals and nursing homes, Washlet was primarily marketed to these markets, but as Washlet entered Japanese homes and became highly sought after, its success in the United States became less compelling. Toto said that the sales of washlets in the United States barely reached a few thousand units per month.
We can't help but ask a question: Why can American toilet technology conquer foreign markets, but fold in its own country?
It turns out that it all has to do with Japan's eccentric culture and consumerism.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > Japan's "double life."</h1>
In 1868, the Edo shogunate returned to power as Emperor Meiji, ushering in the Meiji era in Japan. During the Meiji era, the Japanese government was more centralized and absorbed advanced Ideas from the West, such as the new government's model of Prussia's constitution. As time passed, these top-down changes gradually permeated mass society, and according to historian Andrew Gordon, it wasn't until the early 20th century that Japan acquired all the hallmarks of Western consumerism: a favor for a well-educated middle class, a shift toward full-time work, and a proliferation of brands marketed through new channels such as department stores and magazines.
Statue of Emperor Meiji
But the influx of Western goods and ideas has created a new cultural clash in Japan, at the heart of which is a growing sense of "double life" (ni-ju seikatsu). On the one hand, the Japanese government actively encourages the adoption of Western values, launching the "League to Reform Everyday Life" project, holding regular lectures and producing brochures, and striving to bring Japan into line with Western cultural practices. On the other hand, famous writers of the time (such as Junichiro Tanizaki) lamented the loss of Japan's national identity, which led to the "Return to Japan" literary movement. Incidentally, Junichiro Tanizaki also uses the traditional Japanese toilet as a beacon of Japanese cultural superiority, writing in "The Tribute of The Shadow": "The living room has its own charm, but the Japanese toilet is the real spiritual resting place." ”
Junichiro Tanizaki's novel "Idiot Love" provides the clearest description of this cultural conflict. In the book, the protagonist is obsessed with the girl Naomi, the embodiment of the modern girl, young, financially independent, and very interested in Western culture — and this was the subject of heated debate in Japan at that time. Although cultural purists call this "unnatural," the younger generation praises the independence that Naomi represents. Not surprisingly, the different reactions to "Idiot Love" largely reflect this disagreement. In the book, the protagonist indulges in Naomi's high-nosed, deep-eyed mixed-race appearance, Western-style interests, and stubborn and willful personality. However, after the two are married, the protagonist finds himself in a loveless marriage – Naomi holds all the power in the marriage and associates with a variety of Western lovers. "Idiot Love" tells the story of a woman who is empowered and manipulated, and it makes a generation worship the protagonist, but it also attracts enough ridicule that the publisher even gave up serializing the novel halfway through. In other words, it was a twofold life: a Japan divided by tradition and change, East and West.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > what does japan look like? </h1>
However, it was Japan that understood and ultimately bridged this division that led to The Washlet's extraordinary success. As Andrew Gordon points out, Japan's obsession with dual life should not be framed as an East-West dialogue, but rather a dialogue about "just the right Japan." In other words, what kinds of Western ideas, products, and practices should be discussed that best fit the Japanese cultural mindset?
Take McDonald's, for example. Japan doesn't fully embrace Americans' love of fat and carbs, instead, McDonald's is a clean, shiny new fast-food chain that serves a wide variety of local delicacies (such as teriyaki burgers, mustard sauce). Many Western products are less successful than McDonald's, such as dishwashers (only 30% of Japanese households use dishwashers), but Washlet is an exception.
In many ways, Washlet is poised for groundbreaking success in Japan, as it reflects Japan's focus on purity and cleanliness. Shintoism is the indigenous religion of Japan and is full of rituals held to purify filth (kagare, which usually means sin, but literally "unclean" or "filthy"). In fact, the hot springs popular in Japan were born from Shinto shrines, which have bathhouses built for ritual purification. By the 17th century, bathhouses had become a common commercial facility in Japan.
But just as Japan is focused on keeping it clean, it's also careful to avoid the opposite: toilets. As sociologist Allen Chun explains in his paper "The Toilet of the Future", the traditional Japanese toilet is separated from the main house, and special shoes must be changed when entering the toilet. At the same time, a large number of euphemisms were also created by the Japanese, such as "igloo" and "back cabinet". As Roland Barthes famously put it: When you write the word, the has no taste. "Although toilets have long since entered Standard Japanese homes, the cultural influence of these euphemisms and shoes is still there.
Given the strong cultural preference of the Japanese for cleanliness, it's no surprise that washlets are popular in Japan.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > the power of marketing</h1>
Washlet's early ads advertised almost exclusively about its hygiene aspects, primarily to appeal to women who didn't want to wipe it off. Usually, these ads are about young, athletic women who look vibrant and refreshed. According to Chun, some of these ads even include some eye-catching slogans, such as: "Like brushing your teeth and washing your face, the era of washing your ass has arrived." ”
Washlet. Image source: Toto official website
Ridiculous slogans aside, this language subtly evokes the notion that the masses are dirty and that by buying washlets, the masses can be clean.
According to Dominique Laporte, a 20th-century psychoanalyst, this subtext is not new. Business and the state have never lost this power, which is to control discourse. Specifically, their argument goes something like this: "You're dirty, I'm clean, so I'm going to rule over you." Then it was: "You must be as clean as your ruler, so buy this toilet." ”
You can see how business interest groups are fighting for their rights. Whether it was the urine tax imposed in ancient Rome or the Renaissance, France used the Waste Removal Act to single out the peasants, and the discussion around the toilet was always in the interests of those in power. Even Junichiro Tanizaki, when he praised the "spiritual rest" effect offered by Japanese toilets, he was referring to bathrooms located in high-end residential areas of the city, where there is a large space that can have separate toilets outside the main building.
The idea that Washlet's success may be due to this subtext is a bit odd, but it's not far-fetched. Although high-end restaurants and department stores purchased most of the high-end washlets, large-scale marketing campaigns began to educate consumers about their dirty. According to Chun, in a famous advertisement, a young woman was berating a professor, saying, "No, don't think about it!" Dirty lifestyles are not allowed, and that's what I learned! ”
What really made Washlet popularly recognized, however, was its reinterpretation of the modern girl — a symbol of a divided life. In the 1980s, the famous actress Togawa Jun became the spokesperson for Toto Wesserie. Young, beautiful, and slightly reserved, Jun Togawa represents a fusion of traditional shyness and Western independence. Although Toto chose not to air the ads at dinner time due to concerns about the negative impact of toilet ads, Washlet's ads were a big success. One commercial after another was filmed and broadcast, and in a series of slogans that we might find increasingly funny, one finally reached a tipping point: "Even the ass has to be washed." ”
More than half a century later, the culture that had led publishers to abandon serializing "Idiot Love" led to the popular recognition of a Western invention— no less than a flush toilet.
Curiously, however, Washlet never became popular in the Western world. After all, advertisers in the U.S. and Europe in the 20th century demonstrated an almost mythical marketing power: making people think women's armpits were disgusting; Hallmark invented multiple festivals; Lee Sderling mouthwash created a "medical" solution to bad breath; and all Americans would watch Super Bowl ads. But perhaps Washlet was never a Western-friendly product: the heated toilet bowl felt a little uncomfortable, and its ads were at odds with the folks who watched Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs every week... Maybe it's for a few reasons, we can't be sure.
But whatever the reason for the dishletis' lack of popularity in the West, one thing is for sure. If you want to have a great toilet experience, you have to go to Japan.