One member of the Frugal Japan community recently asked a very interesting question: Are the high-tech toilets in Japan, which will do anything from wash and warm your nether regions to measure blood sugar levels, frugal? While certainly convenient, one does wonder if the extra expense is really worth it — heating the toilet seat, the extra water expense.
Let’s take a look at the costs and savings of Japan’s popular toilet extras.
First, there is the ‘Otohime’ — a noisemaker installed in public restrooms in Japan that emits a flushing noise to mask human bathroom sounds. Previously, many Japanese women would flush twice — once before going, and once after. The Otohime, however, is estimated to save as much as 20 litres of water each trip to the bathroom. An article on Web-Japan.org estimates that “In an office building with 400 female workers, installing sound makers can save over 10 million liters of water in one year, assuming that each woman goes to the bathroom five times daily — and that, without a sound maker, all of them would flush twice). This translates into a reduction in the water bill of 7.74 million yen.” That sounds frugal to me! For the record, you can buy these for home use: both my parents’ and brother’s homes in the US have one, bought for between 8,000 yen (off brand) to 16,800 yen (Toto brand).
Next: the heated toilet seat! Obviously, this product is more of a luxury than a necessary expense. Low-priced “washlet” seats range from around Y30,000 to Y60,000 and above, plus installation costs. Then there are the running costs to consider. Toto’s latest energy-saving model (the slim Apricot N series) costs around Y210/month to operate, as opposed to Y690/month for former models. Newer models also use 50 percent less water for “cleaning functions”. Unlike the Otohime, which was designed as a way to save money, the heated toilet seats are clearly more expensive than the traditional plastic variety. However, as the costs of operating that luxury are probably going down, you can feel a little better about buying one!
© 2004 Wendy J. Imura.