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Bidet, Mate?

The Japanese already enjoy the healthful, sensual pleasures of the high-tech bidet--will Americans ever learn to love the rinse cycle? (December 2003)

by Gary Singh on Apr 10, 2009
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ALLOW ME to ask a personal question. Does your toilet satisfy you? I mean, does it really satisfy you? If not, a 75-year-old Japanese plumbing company named Toto is gearing up to invade the United States with its Neorest robotic toilet-bidet combo--a product that could only have originated in Japan. Where else would you find a toilet whose lid automatically lifts up whenever one approaches it? A toilet whose Power Catalytic Deodorizer function engages as soon as one finishes business and rises from the seat? A toilet whose superpowered, fully adjustable, aerated warm-water spray (a.k.a. the Washlet) sensually cleanses one's nether regions after the fact?

Toto owns 65 percent of the toilet industry in Japan, and the company is out to introduce Americans to the Japanese technology of robo-hygiene. Packing the most technologically advanced features into the smallest possible physical space--in a way only the Japanese can do--the $5,000 Neorest features a 96.8 degree heated seat, user-regulated front and rear cleansing and an oscillating spray massage, bringing levels of lavatorial luxury to entirely new heights.

No toilet paper is needed, as the heated fan dries your nether regions when all is said and done. And the Neorest's fuzzy-logic circuits actually remember what time of the day or night you prefer to visit the bathroom, so the toilet knows when to go into "power save" mode, when to decrease the seat temperature and when to turn off the water heater. Now that's high-tech hygiene. Throw in a low-flush water-saving system, and the machine represents a dazzling advance in bathroom opulence.

Toto officially released the Neorest in the United States in mid-October, and one can already spot Toto infomercials on the airwaves, deeming the machine "the most advanced and luxurious bathroom product ever made." The company is banking on Americans finally realizing that cleaning their posteriors a la Classic Car Wash works much better than toilet paper alone. No need to squeeze the Charmin; just hit the "rear-cleansing" button on the wireless LCD control panel, and you're ready to rock.

That $5,000 does not include installation. "It would take probably a couple of hours to [install] it," says Marcy Skinner of Los Altos Hardware, who has sold three of the toilets so far. "So, I would figure a few hundred dollars for the installation." You can install the Neorest on your existing plumbing as long as you have a 12-inch rough-in and your water supply is located approximately 11 inches off-center. If the price seems a mite steep, an existing toilet can be retrofitted with the Washlet for $600-$1,200, but the lid won't open automatically.

Been There, Dung That

The Neorest represents the next generation in a long line of advanced Toto bathroom equipment. As with automobiles, cameras and other high-tech gadgets, the Japanese apply to toilets their business philosophy of kaizen, an infinite journey of gradual, continuous, incremental improvement.

First brought to the West's attention in Masaki Imai's Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success, the method involves discarding conventional fixed ideas, questioning current practices and seeking the wisdom of 10 people rather than the knowledge of one--all to achieve continuous improvement in everyday life.

And in Japan, one doesn't find the typical American taboo when it comes to bodily fluids. In the United States, we usually don't like to talk about posterior washes and bathroom hygiene, so it remains to be seen whether or not the Neorest will make the grade. Overly macho American males probably consider a bidet something for Eurotrash wussies. And toilet paper companies might just go out of their way to prevent the Neorest from succeeding.

"This is a country with a Puritan history, so we're uncomfortable with bodily functions," says Lenora Campos, public relations manager for Toto USA Inc. "It's a cultural conundrum in the United States. We would never use [only] dry paper to clean [something] and then consider that [something] clean. And at a very crucial point on the body, we say, 'That's good'--and it's not."

Yes, it will take quite an effort for Americans to shake the taboo. Forget that the Bible itself contains numerous dung references, that the Romans and Egyptians worshipped gods of excrement or that Pliny advocated the use of human manure for fields. We just don't like to talk about such things.

Toilets are a common consumer product, but we can't imagine discussing statistics about which water pressure Americans prefer for their posterior-spray massage. Only in the RE/Search Guide to Bodily Fluids does one find a discussion about whether people actually look at toilet paper after using it.

But Campos remains hopeful that Americans will shed their Puritanical instinct and realize that our toilet technology is simply in the dark ages. "We're finding that as U.S. consumers come in contact with [the Neorest] and are educated about the benefits of the Washlet that they are readily adopting it," she explained. "Certainly there is a cultural hurdle, a challenge, but [the Neorest] makes so much sense, and it's something that people simply haven't thought about. Once they do think about it, it kind of sells itself."

To break the taboo, Toto has invested $1.5 million in an advertising campaign for the Washlet that broaches the unspoken subject in one- and two-minute television spots. Produced by the Portland, Ore., advertising agency Respond2, the commercials open with actress Rachael Reenstra asking, "Why is it that when it comes to the one place that really needs to be clean, you rely on this [toilet paper]?" and then devolve into metaphors, including a dirt-covered man attempting to wipe his upper body with paper and someone attempting to clean dishes with paper.

Respond2 vice president Jill Taylor says she wanted the ads to be "provocative but tasteful and humorous." She says her agency, which does marketing for other household products and hopes to reach the mass market "by positioning [the Washlet] as something everyone should have," enjoyed the project more than the work her team has done on behalf of TVs and refrigerators. "We have a lot of clients, and we thought this was the most interesting," Taylor says.

Toto hopes to sell $60 million in Neorest units this year. Worldwide, its high-design commode is approaching the $1 billion mark in annual retail sales. Obviously, convincing Americans to upgrade their porcelain thrones would be worth many more billions to the Japanese bowl maker.

Redwood City's Plumbing 'n' Things has a Neorest on display, but they haven't sold a single one yet. "The biggest reaction to it is, I think, surprise more than anything selse," says Scott Denny, a salesman at the store. "Just looking at it and trying to figure out what it does and that type of thing. And of course, [people are] shocked by the price of it."

"We've got a little pool going," he continued. "We're just teased about the idea of seeing who will be the first one of us to sell one of the $5,000 toilets."

At Fixtures & Faucets Wholesale Plumbing in San Mateo, the scenario is somewhat different, as they've sold five Neorests. "People get impressed when they see if for the first time," says salesman Archie Santos. "They think it's a little high at first, but it's a good toilet. It's different. Everything is all in one unit."

Flush Times

Here in Silicon Valley, where computer-controlled gadgets play a dominant role--for good or bad--in nearly everyone's daily lives, the Neorest just might be the next big thing.

"[Silicon Valley] is a very forward-thinking community, and I think they would immediately see the benefit," Campos continues. "It's really re-examining old notions. It's just a cultural leap forward. It [may seem] very, very strange in the United States, but it's partly because we're a country without a history of the bidet."

Campos sees the marketing of the new technology as "cultural change," a subject the publicist/Ph.D. studied as part of her postgraduate studies in English Renaissance literature and drama.

Now, $5,000 for a toilet-bidet combo may sound a trifle rich. For that much dough, one can buy enough toilet paper at Costco for small city. So one can only hope that the price will eventually come down. Campos won't say either way. "We don't want to be overly reductive and [speculate about future prices]," she ventures cautiously. "The first point of contact is most probably up-market consumers. But there is certainly an opportunity for this to move quickly into the mainstream."

"The long-range trend in the industry is to move toward a derm-less bathroom," adds Campos. "No skin touching anything. More and more elements in the bathroom will be centrally operated. There will come a time--and this is long-term--when you can move through the bathroom, and more and more uses will be built into fixtures, and more water conservation will be built in. You'll have centrally operated faucetry. You may have a situation where the shower has a learning cycle--you program it, and it knows what temperature you want the water."

Remember how expensive DVDs were when they first came out? Now, they're ubiquitous and cost next to nothing. Maybe in a few years, the Neorest's "rear-cleansing" button will be just as common a household item as a can opener.

"It's good hygiene for everybody, from cradle to grave," declares Campos. "It's a technology that has extremely wide applications. So in our marketing strategy, our goal is to communicate that benefit."

End Users

But there may be other benefits of Neorest's rear-cleansing massage as well. On July 29, 2002--when sales of toilets with built-in bidets were skyrocketing in Japan--the Mainichi Daily News quoted proctologist Masahiro Takano, who said that firing a stream of water into the backside can be an effective treatment for constipation. "It's like how a mother cat licks a kitten's anus to stimulate it and expel its wastes," the article quoted Takano as saying. Leave it to the Japanese to couch even the most elemental functions in a poetic simile.

The same article also cited stories of Japanese women using bidets for sexual stimulation. One woman named Akiko explicitly described to the weekly magazine Shukan Gendai how she sits backward on the bowl and adjusts the water pressure to increase the intensity of the thrill.

"Of course, I could always use adult toys," she said. "But they're fairly expensive, and it's not like I could go out and buy them by myself. I could order them over the Internet, but it's always embarrassing when they're delivered. I like the Washlet because I don't have to care about that stuff. I get myself off on the Washlet a couple of times a week."

Sex counselor Yobun Tomina also spoke to Shukan Gendai and recommended the Washlet for masturbation: "It's clean, the stimulation is soft, and they're handy. The genitalia do have microbes that clean naturally, and there's a chance that these could be washed away. But I don't think that there's anybody out there who'd keep doing it for over an hour, so it should be all right."

"It's such a unique full-capacity product," said Campos. "It's something that people will be able to appreciate easily. In other words, there are multiple end users."



by Gary Singh on Apr 10, 2009
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