Never thought I would need a notice to go to the toilets, until… Japan!

Article updated on May 23, 2020
Text & photos: Marcella van Alphen

I push on a button: a water splash starts. Wrong button… Another one: now it is a different kind of splash. Still the wrong button! Will I ever make it? I start panicking slightly as I realise that there are two Japanese women on the other side of the restroom door, probably wondering what I am doing in there! This is quite embarrassing… This is my first Japanese toilet experience and it is taking me ages to figure it out: I just can’t find the flush button!

Eventually, I cheer when I push a button and I hear the toilet flushing!… Until I realise that the toilet is not actually flushing, but just making a cover up sound! I must be getting closer: pushing the neighbouring button, the sound just keeps increasing!

Instructions on the control panel of a Japanese toilet.

This next button is too much: the toilet starts spraying water against the door! After managing to stop it, I have to squat to wipe the door with toilet paper, and this is when I notice a small handle on the other side of the toilet. The flush!

Very clear translation of all the options on this toilet

Japanese toilets are quite something! They are unbelievably clean, and super sophisticated with buttons to control the spray, bidet, sound, power deodorizer, water-pressure, temperature, bottom cleaning and most importantly the stop function…

I must have pressed all of them in my desperate attempt to flush, probably making me an expert at Japanese toilet technologies after this impromptu crash course!

When instructions on Japanese toilets can be puzzling, some would just crack me up!

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3 thoughts on “Never thought I would need a notice to go to the toilets, until… Japan!”

This had me chuckling so much! My sister had a very similar experience in Japan last year, she couldn’t figure it out so she had to ask someone to help. I would have been so embarrassed!

I totally understand what you went through.As a Japanese myself,I rarely use these toilets because the same kind of thing happened to me.Even though I can read the buttons,I wanted to try them once,and ended up getting my entire skirt wet, and I had to go back inside the department store with my wet skirt.It was very embarrassing.Nowadays a lot of Japanese households have these “sofisticated”toilets, but not everyone uses them.I personally have one at my house but I unplugged it .