The Japanese "smart toilet" is one of the small everyday marvels that most surprises first-time visitors. Its formal name is onsui senjō benza (温水洗浄便座), "warm-water cleaning seat," but everyone knows it by the brand name Washlet. A heated seat, a warm-water spray, a dryer, and a panel of buttons turn an ordinary bathroom fixture into something quietly high-tech. You will find one in homes, hotels, and public restrooms across the country.
A seat full of functions
At its core the device is a bidet built into the toilet seat. A retractable nozzle sprays warm water for cleaning, and you can adjust its temperature, pressure, and position. A warm-air dryer follows. From there the features keep going. The seat itself is heated, which is a real comfort on a winter morning. Many models add a deodoriser and a lid that opens on its own as you walk up. There is often a sound function too, called otohime, or "sound princess." It plays a flushing sound to cover any embarrassing noises. Before it existed, people simply flushed again and again for privacy, wasting a lot of water.
Everywhere, and a point of pride
TOTO launched the Washlet in 1980, and it spread so widely that the electronic bidet-toilet is now in the large majority of Japanese households. It is also standard in hotels and in many public and convenience-store restrooms. For many travellers it becomes an unexpected highlight, and occasionally a source of comedy when you are facing a wall of unlabeled buttons in Japanese. Its opposite survives alongside it: some older or rural places still have the traditional Japanese squat toilet set into the floor, the low-tech ancestor at the other end of the scale.
Words & idioms to take away
Idioms & proverbs to carry away
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ウォシュレット (woshuretto, "Washlet"): originally TOTO's brand name, now used loosely for any warm-water washing toilet seat, the way a brand becomes the everyday word.
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温水洗浄便座 (onsui senjō benza): the generic term, literally "warm-water washing toilet seat"; 便座 (benza) alone is the toilet seat.