Why Don't American Toilets Have Heated Seats?

Why Japan works the way it does, from a Japanese who has lived in America. Why do Japanese toilets have heated seats and a whole panel of buttons? The answer starts in America. In 1964, TOTO, a pottery company founded in Kokura, began importing a warm-water seat made in the US for medical use, and it did not sell as well as hoped in Japan. We follow it through TOTO's own records and Japanese government data, from the 1914 flush toilet to the Washlet G of 1980, and back to the Americas. Have you used a warm-water bidet seat, in Japan or at home, and would you install one? Tell us in the comments. This video is not sponsored. Narration voice is AI-generated. Chapters: 0:00 The Button Panel 1:01 Two Bathrooms 1:56 The Pottery Town 3:09 The Medical Seat 6:12 The Slow Climb 7:00 Decades of Buttons 7:50 The Round Trip 9:57 Back to the Panel Sources & further reading: Consumer Confidence Survey, diffusion of durable goods (Cabinet Office, Japan (e-Stat)): https://www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/... Promoting sewerage development (MLIT, Japan): https://www.mlit.go.jp/mizukokudo/sew... Diet record, House of Representatives subcommittee, April 6, 2020 (National Diet Library): https://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/txt/12010413... Footage & photo credits: Photo "TOTO (39720459641)" by tak.wing (CC BY-SA 2.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "TOTO (39720445431)" by tak.wing (CC BY-SA 2.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "Controls of a typical toilet in Japan. (35400585742)" by Volgar from Stockholm, Sweden (CC BY-SA 2.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "Restroom at the Quarry Visitor Center (7c494625-9e3f-42b8-acaa-0163a445cd48)" by NPS Photo (Public Domain): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "Manhole cover - Takayama, Gifu, Japan - DSC06665" by Daderot (CC0 1.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "TOTO (27941487479)" by tak.wing (CC BY-SA 2.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "TOTO (24850963417)" by tak.wing (CC BY-SA 2.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "Washlet comandi" by Adriano (CC BY-SA 3.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "Japanese toilet buttons" by Stéfan Le Dû from Nantes, France (CC BY-SA 2.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "TOTO (39720474561)" by tak.wing (CC BY-SA 2.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "INAX Live Museum14n4272" by 663highland (CC BY 2.5): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "INAX Live Museum04n4272" by 663highland (CC BY 2.5): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "INAX museums Tokoname (Aichi) VLux5 hdsr tm19" by Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert (CC BY 4.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "Tokoname Toilet Park ac" by Asturio Cantabrio (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "Decisions, decisions (36069101272)" by Phil Whitehouse from London, United Kingdom (CC BY 2.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo "Toto Washlet TCF8WW88, top view" by Benlisquare (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Other photos and footage (CC0, Public Domain or Pixabay License): Pixabay: jarmoluk, 29523398, taka0043, PandaBearPhotographyWales, mainblick, mspark0, rgerber, ElasticComputeFarm, mowbraycourthotel, blickpixel, jplenio, shell_ghostcage, ArtisticOperations, sferrario1968, travelphotographer, athapap, JanClaus, Alexas_Fotos, tianya1223 Other images are AI-generated. #japan #japanesetoilet #bidet #history #documentary