Japan To End Tourists' Toilet Trouble With Standardised Buttons (theguardian.com)

The Japan Sanitary Equipment Industry Association, a consortium of companies producing plumbing products has agreed to unify the iconography used on the often baffling control panels for Japanese toilets. From a report on The Guardian: Navigating the array of buttons on Japan's high-tech toilets can be a disconcerting experience for the uninitiated, who, expecting to hear a familiar flushing sound, are instead subjected to a sudden, and unwanted, cleansing of the nether regions. As Japan prepares for an influx of overseas visitors during the 2019 rugby World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics the following year, the country's sanitation industry has agreed to standardize pictograms on toilets so users know for certain if they are about to receive a blast of warm air or a jet of water. Nine manufacturers belonging to the Japan sanitary equipment industry association will soon start using the same eight symbols to explain the buttons found on their state-of-the-art WCs. At a launch event this week, the firms said they had agreed to simplify the pictography in response to complaints from tourists that they are confused by symbols that differ depending on the make of toilet. In a survey of 600 foreign visitors, a quarter said they could not understand some of the symbols that appear on the toilet buttons.

Comments

Re:That Quarter

[djinn6]

Every toilet that I've seen in Japan had the regular metal button or lever on the water bowl for the flush. The pictograms are for the advanced functions.

Re: Share and Enjoy!

[rworne]

It's not "enema"

It's Stop, Butt Rinse, Butt Rinse (gentle, for hemorrhoids), Feminine Wash, and Air Dry.

Opening the cover for those controls you usually only mess with once is just for comedic effect. But those controls are for moving the jet forward or backward to bullseye the target area, stream strength, pulsed or non-pulsing streams, temperature, and seat warming settings.

Yeah, we had one of these. Don't knock them till you try them, your sphincter will thank you later, especially when wiping is like trying to get peanut butter out of a shag carpet.