Japan's Culture of Techno-Toilets

For Westerners, it is the device that has launched a thousand euphemisms: the water closet, the loo, the john, the can. Its existence is about function – one that is best left as unacknowledged as possible. But in Japan -- where Western-style commodes replaced the traditional squat-style affair only three decades ago -- the porcelain throne has attained something of a royal status. A quotidian workhorse is now a high-tech, multifeatured must-have that elicits almost reverential... Full Story