Japan thinks its high-tech toilets are the way to tourists' hearts

Japanese government plans to install high-tech toilets in tourist facilities such as airports, with promotional videos showing foreigners how to use them 

What could be more welcoming than a toilet that lifts its lid to greet you?

Japan’s high-tech toilets, which offer heated seats, bidet jets, odour neutralisers and even noise-masking melodies, can be found in most hotels but might soon be introduced to tourist facilities such as airports.

The Japanese government is considering promoting the toilets as part of a tourism plan in the run up to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. 


The novelty of using a toilet with the buttons and lights of your average spaceship is a highlight for many who visit Japan and something that holidaymakers are quick to miss on their return to less bottom-friendly environments. 

Now the Japanese government is launching a worldwide drive to promote the toilets, according to the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun.

Clean toilets equipped with various features "will be a plus for tourism", and will be included in a growth strategy to be compiled this summer, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources. 

The government is considering installing more high-tech toilets in areas frequented by tourists. Its campaign might also include promotional videos for foreigners in a bid to showcase the comfort of Japanese toilets ahead of the Games, the newspaper said. 

 Nearly every household in Japan and most public restrooms are equipped with a seat plugged into the mains electricity.

With water jets at angles that have been described as “frighteningly accurate”, the toilets have also been finding fans across the world. This Chinese New Year, Chinese people apparently spent £616m on Japanese toilets, so much that one Communist newspaper felt it necessary to write a furious editorial about the demand making a mockery of China's boycott of Japanese goods.

Celebrities have embraced Japan’s luxury toilets too, with stars such as Madonna and Will Smith singing their praises.