Japan's Now Selling Hands-Free, Paper-Free, High-Tech Toilets

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This article is part of our series on the 17 most unique things to have come out of Japan. Check out the other 16.

International travellers can now try Japan’s super high-tech toilet, with the opening of a showroom at Narita Airport. The toilet comes from the company Toto, which revolutionised attitudes to toilet-going by teaching us to see the bathroom as a site for constant innovation.

Largely thanks to Toto, Japan has long had the edge when it comes to toilet technology. The newest invention features a motion-sensing seat, which lifts automatically. And it eliminates the need for paper, providing, instead, a spout of warm water, followed by a warm breeze. The most advanced model allows you to decide at exactly what temperature and pressure you’d like to experience these elements. Go really fancy and you’ll score a seat that you can warm up, lights, music, pleasant scents and the ability to self-clean.

The benefits aren't just sensory; they’re environmental, too. “We wash most things with water and wouldn't dream of wiping a dish or anything else with a piece of paper and calling it clean. So why should personal hygiene be any different?” Lenora Campos, a spokeswoman for Georgia-based Toto USA, told the New York Daily News.

At Narita, the experience is enhanced with a tranquil, architect-designed space and colourful, glowing walls, where silhouetted women and men are seen dancing in celebration of just how much toilet technology has achieved.

Via Quartz.