The Japanese toilet that draws the most attention is perhaps the recently invented electronic sitdown toilets. The seat rest has an installed heater, a welcomed feature during wintertime. There are also hydraulic jets that can spray water to clean either the female private part or the anus. The disadvantage though is that when a person does not know how to use it properly, she/he can end up very wet. The jet of water can be strong or weak. The strong mode can be upsetting for some first time users. The other ergonomic controversy is the fact that sometimes users, particularly foreigners who do not know how to use the electronic toilets is unable to stop the jet of water and may end up washing their face if they turn around to face the toilet bowl in an attempt to stop the water jet.
It will take a lot of public education and civic-consciousness before these toilets can be installed in other Asian countries without vandalism or other forms of misuse or abuse by members of the public. Besides the toilet seats itself, there are also features of Japanese toilet that indicate the coming of age of Japanese toilet usage. For example, in many of the shopping centres, particularly the big ones in the city, there are hairdryers located in the toilets for the convenience of the women. This is an extremely advanced features as such hairdryers may easily become the object of theft or vandalism in other Asian countries. In addition, some even had installed sofas. More important than such advanced gadgets and relatively expensive features, are the toilet seat covers. These are things that should be popularized in other Asian countries in the interest of public hygiene. In conclusion, Japanese toilets could very well end up as models for other Asian countries in terms of development. It is certainly a model that is worthwhile to follow as more Asian economies progresses, particularly for the advanced developing countries of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong SAR. These countries are slowly catching up with the Japanese standards of hygiene and may level Japan someday. For example, one can certainly find more electronic automatic flushing toilets in high-tech Singapore. This is probably an example of latecomer’s advantage.