Japan’s Royal Thrones
These high-tech toilets will measure your blood pressure, light your nighttime perambulations, and keep you warm and dry

By Kenji Hall and Hiroko Tashiro

What do you get when you combine Japan’s love of gadgetry with its cleanliness obsession? The highest-tech toilets on the planet. The technology that’s packed into commodes these days will make your head spin. Upscale models feature infrared sensors, microprocessors, and light-emitting diodes. And even many common models have seats that warm your backside, blast it with water, and then blow-dry it.

Japan’s push to build a better toilet began in earnest in the late 1970s. Back then, squat-toilets were as common as the Western-style ones. Manufacturers such as Toto and Inax poured billions into research, experimenting with all sorts of zany ideas. Today, the high-tech variety is fast replacing the push-flush in homes, offices, and even public facilities. One factor driving the switch: water conservation efforts. The new low-flow models use just 20% the water that conventional toilets do.

Manufacturers sell roughly 4 million toilets annually in Japan, and nearly two-thirds of those have advanced features, according to industry stats. Yet despite all the technological advancements, Toto, Inax, and Matsushita Electric Industrial have yet to make much headway with consumers overseas. Still, that hasn’t discouraged them from flooding the market with new models every few months. And given the miniaturization of chips and the advances of robotics, these bionic toilets may one day find their way into homes worldwide. Here’s a look at a few of the models now available in Japan.

Via