The Exciting and The Terrifying

Public toilets are always a mildly scary thing for me. Germs, smells, potential lack of necessary equipment, etc. Japan has taken my feelings about public toilets to a whole new level. From the bizarre, to the "wow, this is awesome", to the "I pray I never have to use that ever in my life".

Somehow, I have managed to avoid using the infamous "squatty potty"... it terrifies me.
The thing I find strange is that a lot of Japanese seem to prefer this, I'm sure it is what they are used to, but I've had to have Rylan and Beckam use these, and they are way dirtier and smellier. Any guess why? I'm not even sure how I would manage this without stripping everything off.

Here is fairly typical "Western-style" toilet. (heaven bless the person who introduced Western-style to Japan!) None of the buttons on the handle are for flushing. Good luck figuring out what they are for :)

Directions on how to use a Western style toilet...no standing on it, or sitting backward

Directions on how to use all the buttons on the handle

Here is a close up of some of the options you might have while using one of the high-tech toilets. Two different sprays for different areas, increase or decrease the water pressure, you can have the toilet make a flushing sound, you can also increase or decrease the volume on the flushing sound, "powerful deodorizer", clean the nozzle's of the sprayers, and my personal favorite the heated seat option. We stayed in a cabin last weekend, it was freezing, and I said a little prayer of gratitude every time I sat down on the toilet. Ingenious. I will be bringing one home.

There are even more high-tech toilets out there that I have yet to encounter. I think some greet you, some automatically lift and lower the lid. My friend's toilet has a sink above the tank so the clean water you use to wash your hands get's recycled to flush the toilet! How very green of them :)
Even though we don't really feel like tourists anymore, the simplest of activities are still mini-adventures :)