The Toto Washlet toilet seat bidet is in 80% of all Japanese households. In America, it's only in <3% of homes but the numbers are rising fast, per NYT: ▫️2 in 5 renovating homeowners in US are adding bidet toilet seats ▫️Toto's profits for its American house business is up 8x in the past 5 years A slow start was also the norm in Japan: when Toto launched the first bidet washlets in the 1980s, consumers weren't crazy for the washing, drying and heated seat functions (one of the greatest human innovations ever). Adapted from bidet-like devices in US medical equipment, the first Toto seat cost ~$2k (inflation-adjusted) and it took 18 years to sell 10m Washlet seats. Toto sold the same number (10m seats) just between 2019-2022. COVID and stay-at-home was the main driver for those sales.  The seats keep getting cheaper and include way more features (deodorizing, automatic flushing and lid openings). A new advance is that the warm water spray stays at 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a temperature that Toto hilariously describes as “warm but not surprising.” The pandemic also catalyzed sales in America (~$500 a seat) especially because of toilet paper shortages. Sales have kept apace and demand is also coming back from the record number of American visitors going to Japan and experiencing the seat magic. Somehow, there’s still more toilet innovation: in August, Toto will release a ~$4k smart toilet that helps consumers track their stool health by scanning color, shape, volume and texture…to be viewed in an app (don’t think I’m ready for this one). *** Full NYT piece here:  Toto Smart Toilet:

They demo’d the smart toilet with a mock log: “The system classifies stool into seven shapes and hardness types such as granular, banana-shaped or liquid, along with variations in surface texture, and further assigns one of three color categories: ochre, brown or dark brown. Stool quantity is categorized as high, medium or low. The app displays this data, allowing users to track frequency and condition via a calendar and receive personalized lifestyle advice based on trends in their bowel movements.”

The Simpsons vs. South Park on Japanese toilets