Nothing says "bathroom of the future" like a high-tech toilet. And we are building the bathroom of the future - our future, at least - so we have splurged on more than just body jets and a deep, deep soaking tub. You can blame Japan again. When I arrived in Kobe, I checked into my "western style" room which was maybe all of 8 feet x 13 ft, including the bathroom. The bathroom seemed to be a single piece of molded plastic, like something on a cruise ship and the toilet had direction. In Japan it translated as "shower toilet", while in the states the term with
growing popularity seems to be washlet toilet or bidet seat.
Well, that first night (or was it morning?) when I arrived, it was too complicated to figure out and I really just hoped it would function as a regular toilet, which it did just fine. After a little non-sleep, I was ready to read the instructions and give it a whirl. Heh. I mean, try out the functions. These units involved pushing a button to either flush out the cold water or to heat the water, so there was some waiting involved. Then when it was ready, there were knobs to control the water temperature and pressure.
At the conference center, the toilets had heated seats but no bidet functionality.
After 5 days in Japan, I was starting to get use to this new fixture, and then I went to Kyoto to meet up with Dave.
It was there that the idea came to a culmination: not only the bidet functionality, but a heated seat, a lid that opened and closed by itself and it flushed automatically! Truly this was the way to live.
When we began on the bathroom remodel, which was suppose to be a bathroom remodel and nothing more, we originally planned to keep our existing toilet which is low flow and only a few years old.
Yet, as the plans grew, we started talking about wonderful things like body jets and soaking tubs. Then Dave came up with the design which mimics the hotel in Kyoto and I loved it and I thought it would be perfect and would only be missing the "shower toilet".
Well, no more. The shower toilet is now sitting in a box in our living room awaiting its install. It's amazing to look at even when not installed. The manual is like a small book. I think the microwave manual is shorter. Seriously. And so, one day, in the hopefully not too distant future, we will have the bathroom of the future.
growing popularity seems to be washlet toilet or bidet seat.Well, that first night (or was it morning?) when I arrived, it was too complicated to figure out and I really just hoped it would function as a regular toilet, which it did just fine. After a little non-sleep, I was ready to read the instructions and give it a whirl. Heh. I mean, try out the functions. These units involved pushing a button to either flush out the cold water or to heat the water, so there was some waiting involved. Then when it was ready, there were knobs to control the water temperature and pressure.
At the conference center, the toilets had heated seats but no bidet functionality.
After 5 days in Japan, I was starting to get use to this new fixture, and then I went to Kyoto to meet up with Dave.
It was there that the idea came to a culmination: not only the bidet functionality, but a heated seat, a lid that opened and closed by itself and it flushed automatically! Truly this was the way to live.When we began on the bathroom remodel, which was suppose to be a bathroom remodel and nothing more, we originally planned to keep our existing toilet which is low flow and only a few years old.
Yet, as the plans grew, we started talking about wonderful things like body jets and soaking tubs. Then Dave came up with the design which mimics the hotel in Kyoto and I loved it and I thought it would be perfect and would only be missing the "shower toilet".Well, no more. The shower toilet is now sitting in a box in our living room awaiting its install. It's amazing to look at even when not installed. The manual is like a small book. I think the microwave manual is shorter. Seriously. And so, one day, in the hopefully not too distant future, we will have the bathroom of the future.
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