Today, JapanProbe posted an article criticizing the Washington Post for a recent article describing Japanese energy efficiency. Overall the Post painted a flattering picture of how Japan saves energy in the home, but it made an exception when it came to electronic toilet seats, presumably because there are very few of such seats in the U.S. This caused JapanProbe to call foul due to cultural bias.
However, I think the Post’s article is just an example that (perhaps unintentionally) illustrates the difference between what’s considered a valuable use of energy in one culture versus another. Let’s take air conditioning as an example.
In America, it’s common to have central air conditioning. Americans value having a temperature-regulated home so they can feel comfortable indoors (around 72*F) no matter what it’s like outside. To the average American, home should be a safe haven from the outside world. If he’s freezing or sweating balls in his own living room, he finds this to be an unacceptable problem.
However, in Japan it’s considered normal for indoor and outdoor temperature to be almost the same year-round. Despite most Japanese homes/apartments being a fraction of the size of their American counterparts, heating/cooling the whole place at once is (rightly) seen as wasteful, so their solutions are site- and time-specific (kotatsu, heated carpets, fans, wall-mount A/C units). They’ve learned to endure the temparature changes: you’re just expected to be cold in winter and hot in summer. It’s a fact of life.
How can we apply this towards understanding the Post’s (America’s?) stance on electronic toilets? The most obvious energy-using aspects of electronic toilet seats seem to be pre-heated water and heated toilet seats. To the American they appear unnecessary. Luxuries. Much in the same way the Japanese probably see American central A/C.
However, Japanese residential toilets are freezing cold in winter. I’ve witnessed steam rising from my urine stream on its way to the bowl. Nobody likes the cringe-inducing sting of a frozen arse. Hence the heated toilet seat. But to the American it’s unnecessary because the central A/C keeps the room -and hence the seat- warm.
Warm water bidets follows the same line of logic. A bidet is more hygeinically sound, and leads to less toilet paper usage. It meets Japan’s eco-friendly sensibility on that level, but you don’t want a stream of ice water aimed down there, now do you? Hence pre-heated water in the bidet. On the American side of this, a bidet is a very alien concept. I suspect this is due to many men in the U.S. considering it an act of latent homosexuality to allow one’s anus to become the target of anything. I’m only half serious about that, but I do think it’s at least a small factor.
However, I do wonder what the penetration rate is for heated electronic toilet seats in the households of single men? What percentage of these seats are bought by/for women? After all women sit down on the seats 50% more often than men and so might find these features more appealing.
As for why the Japanese are so conscious of certain types of energy use (lights, A/C, always-on computers) and blind to others (toilet seats, hot water dispensers) has alot to do with visibility. You can SEE when a light is on. You FEEL when the A/C is working. Toilet seats are silent when not in use, even if the seat is being warmed 24/7.
If a TV or radio function, or even just a set of pretty twinkling lights were attached to toilet seats when it’s “on” I bet alot more people would notice and take extra care to turn them off.
