Holy Crap

One thing I really was scared of when I found out I was coming to Japan was the new toilet situation. Being an American through and through, I have never come across anything other than our standard porcelain thrown. Now I had to come to terms with something totally new that I really never, ever wanted to try out. 

As you can see the Japanese version of the water closet is quite different and to be honest I wasn't really sure how the heck I was supposed to use it. Do you sit? Do you balance? Which way do you face? 

  

As the questions puzzled my mind, I found a sign like this one that nicely explained the do's and don'ts. Awesome. That cleared a few things up.

The doors are different here too. Since you are basically booty bumping the floor, the doors go down all the way to the ground. No need to be concerned someone might see something. 

 

Later I found out that in most places where they think foreigners could be will have some more familiar looking toilets around. These tend to be a lot higher tech then you might be used to but you don't squat with these ones, so hey, I am sold. Just as a warning though, don't expect these western johns to be around cause more often than not they wont be.

You can take care of business in luxury in Japan. Why yes, that is a music note you see there. Don't want anyone to hear what you are doing, bam, press that button and you are totally undercover. Fancy a super clean hiney? Spray your booty and adjust the pressure to your liking. Some even have a temperature control for those with a discerning derriere.  

 

 I found this picture funny since it shows the other end of the spectrum. The bottom two pictures crack me up. Fishing??? Anything you can catch in there probably would taste like ... ya, that. The last picture...really? REALLY? Someone must have tried this in order to make it on this sign.

 One last thing to remember, if you ever go somewhere that is not a public restroom you must always use the bathroom slippers. Never, and I mean NEVER use house slippers in the bathroom and it would be even worse to bring the bathroom slippers out into the house.