Talk:Toilets in Japan

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  1. 2004 – April 2006

Contents

[edit] Featured Article Review

I'm working to convert all the references at the bottom to inline citations so the article will meet the ever-changing FA requirements. Here's the list of references I've removed while I find the appropriate spot(s) in the article to attach them.

[edit] References to be converted to inline citations

  1. Mark Magnier (1999): Japan Is Flush With Obsession, L.A. Times
  2. Dimmer, Christine; Martin, Brian; et al. (1996): "Squatting for the Prevention of Hemorrhoids?", Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia, published in the Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients, Issue No. 159, October 1996, pp. 66-70
  3. Washlet - The Evolution of Clean, TOTO USA color brochure
  4. Performing Art: The residential Collection, TOTO color brochure
  5. Toto Annual Report 2002, TOTO
  6. James Brooke (2002): Japanese Masters Get Closer to the Toilet Nirvana, The New York Times, October 8, 2002
  7. Ryann Connell (2002): Girls gush over pleasures of new age bathroom relief Mainichi Shinbun, WaiWai section, July 29 2002
  8. Walsh, Michael (1989) King for a day in a small room with a view. (Japanese high-tech toilets), Time, February 13, 1989
  9. Daniel McGinn (2005) The King of Thrones, Wired Magazine, Issue 13.03

[edit] External links to be converted if possible

[edit] Link which seems to be dead, so removed from article

I have no idea what this link is supposed to be to (other than a study of some sort). If anyone can find the study, please post a link here.

···日本穣? · Talk to Nihonjoe 19:07, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Price range?

How much do these things usually cost? In the States the cheapest I'm finding are between $350 and $800. In Japan so many public toilets get outfitted with these things that I would have a hard time believing these are Japanese prices. 68.18.96.178 07:26, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

In Japan, Cheapest ones start at around US200, but they are really .... um ... crap. Reasonable ones are available from US500. These are both add-ons for regular western toilets (replacing the lid and seat of an existing loo). A top of the line device including the ceramic bowl can be US5000 and more. In general, my feeling is that Japanese are for many products willing to and are paying 150% of the prices in the US. (Louis Vutton anyone?)-- Chris 73 | Talk 10:35, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Readability of Article

I have recommended the Wikipedia website to my students, who are aged 16-19, for research purposes, however they have struggled to understand some of the articles. This is mainly due to the complexity of the language used. The readability score of the article is 10.73, which is the years of education needed to be able to understand this article on first reading. The article could be improved by reducing the length of the sentences, reducing the length of the paragraphs and replacing difficult words with more commonly used ones which would make the article more accessible to a wider and perhaps younger audience. Would any of the editors be prepared to review the article to make it easier to read and thus more accessible to more users? Sarahhcfe 14:15, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

There's a special version of wikipedia written for those whose grasp of english is shaky. The articles are much easier to read, relying on simple vocabulary and grammatical constructs. Go to "simple.wikipedia.org". yandman 17:40, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unsourced statements

I could not find sources for the following statements from the article, hence i removed them:

  • Occurrences of rape are higher than average near to or within toilet facilities in public parks, especially after dusk.

-- Chris 73 | Talk 20:13, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

I removed this from the end of the Public toilets section - it needs a source:

In recent years, many public restrooms at the bottom of the spectrum have been found to be hiding pinhole cameras, for voyeuristic pornography.[citation needed]

Sandy (Talk) 16:33, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bidet toilet

"The current state of the art for Western-style toilets is the bidet toilet, which, as of 2004, are installed in more than half of Japanese households.[3][4][5] " This is unclear, is it a combination bidet toilet? Esentially a toilet with a built-in bidet, or is it just a bidet, which is essentially what is described in the lead paragraph: "Depending on the exact model, these bidets are designed to open the lid when they sense a user nearby, wash the anus or vulva of the user (including a number of pulsating and massaging functions), dry afterwards with warm air, flush automatically and close the lid after use." There is no sense that anything has occured before the washing that would necessitate a toilet. So, is it a toilet also, or is it just a bidet? KP Botany 23:43, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Waiwai news cited

Regarding the part wherein toilets are cited as a pleasure device for women. The source cited was the Waiwai news, which is basically an English translation of tabloid news. No more authoritative a source than the Weekly World News, if you get my drift. Any objections before I delete that material and the associated citation? KristoferM 18:40, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Shukan Gendai, the source of the Mainichi article cited, is not quite at the level of Weekly World News. While it certainly is a tabloid in spirit, it is published by a major publishing company (Kodansha) and it doesn't seem to publish articles created out of the whole cloth as WWN does. The "Yobun Tomina" and "Kim Myung Gun" quoted in that story might very well exist and might have said what they are quoted are saying. (Without knowing the kanji for their names, it's hard to find out more about them in Japanese.)
A search at Google in Japanese for ウォシュレット オナニー ("Washlet" "masturbation") gets over 30,000 hits. Many come from blogs and BBS discussions in which people presenting themselves as women describe using the devices for masturbatory purposes (sometimes successfully, sometimes not). There's no reason to regard all of the reports as true, of course, but the Wikipedia article's statement "It is also reported, that women may be sexually stimulated through the water jet." seems to me to be appropriately hedged. I vote to leave it in. (I took out the comma after "reported," though.) Tomgally 03:28, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Good point, Tom. I withdraw my proposal. And THAT's why we have talk pages.  ;) KristoferM 06:10, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

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