What will they think of next?
 

NY Times 10/4/04

Gadget Helps Women Use Bathroom in Japan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: October 4, 2004

Filed at 10:37 a.m. ET

TOKYO (AP) -- When Naoko Ito uses a public bathroom, she cringes in embarrassment at the thought that other patrons can hear the sounds coming from her stall. That's when she turns to the ``Sound Princess.''

Ito, like a rapidly growing number of Japanese women, presses a device installed in public toilets to simulate the sound of water flushing -- and mask the cruder noises of nature.

``I usually use the flushing sound when I go to a public bathroom, such as at a department store, because I get a bit self-conscious,'' said Ito, a 60-year-old waitress.

The device -- a curious mix of Japanese bashfulness and modern technology -- is spreading rapidly through public buildings and has now become standard equipment for new construction.

Leading toilet producer Toto Ltd. has sold 500,000 of their ``Sound Princess'' -- ``Oto-Hime'' in Japanese -- since 1988, and the company says orders surged 125 percent in 2003 alone.

``The core of our clientele is schools and companies,'' Toto spokeswoman Kumi Goto said. ``Japanese women are very embarrassed by the sounds they make in a toilet.''

There's another reason behind the increase in the gadgets: ecology. Women in Japan have traditionally flushed several times to cover up their noises, so the Sound Princess is saving water and cutting down on public building operators' utility bills.

The Sound Princess is fairly simple. The user passes her hand over a sensor, and the convincing sound of a torrent of water comes from a speaker.

Such gadgets might seem a dainty, modern excess of a shame-obsessed society, but the Sound Princess has deep roots in Japanese culture.

The Japanese are notoriously fastidious: the daily bath is practiced with near-religious fervor, and walking inside with your shoes on is considered filthy. The Japanese word for clean -- ``kirei'' -- also means beautiful.

And what happens in a bathroom stall is, well, among the dirtiest things that humans do.

Going to the toilet has been considered embarrassing and even shameful for women since ancient times in Japan, said Noriji Suzuki, a parasitologist at Kochi University Medical School.

``Sometimes you see people talking to each other over a stall in Western countries, but that would never happen in our culture,'' he said.

The trend is not limited to women these days. Some schools have done away with urinals because boys are increasingly too embarrassed to use the stalls, since going there would tell onlookers exactly what's going to happen next.

Tadafumi Morioka, a spokesman for another Japanese toilet maker, INAX Corp., said his company also started selling a similar product in 1988 amid concerns of wasted water.

He said the installment rate of such devices in modern skyscrapers in Japan is 100 percent. INAX's sales increased 25 percent in 2003, Morioka said, although he refused to give precise numbers.

``Most of the demands for the device come from public facility owners and managers including department stores and elementary and junior high schools,'' he said.

But for now, ``Oto-Hime'' seems to likely to remain for women only.

``I still haven't heard of men who say they want 'Oto-hime' in men's rooms,'' said Goto.

Interesting fact: In the US, bathroom ventilation/exhaust fans other than those marked specifically marked as low noise are all manufactured to standards that include a minimum decibel rating in order to mask any embarassing sounds that might otherwise escape the confines of the bathroom and let those outside of the room know exactly what's going on.

Odd. I'm normally quite proud of the sounds I make in the toilet.

Damn right

It's amazing how different human beings are. They try to hide their sounds, while we record them and make cds out of them.

It isn't the sounds of others exhaust that I care about, it is their stink. I think some sort of vacuum at the back end of a toilet would sell millions because it would 1) suck the stink out of any exhaust fumes and 2) dispense a spray to mask any fumes that escape the vacuum. I think it could sell....

In the west, (some of) our women suffer from anorexia and bulemia in order to maintain a certain body image.

In the east, who know what kind of gastro-intestinal problems they might give themselves because they are too embarrased to admit to others that they have bowel movements.

Sheesh...

HUH?

Care to explain that?

Things like this make me never want to visit Japan.

It seems like everyone is so uptight that I don't think I could enjoy a trip there. Of course, this is all based on articles I read about Japanese people.

``Japanese women are very embarrassed by the sounds they make in a toilet.''

Yet they like to Sh!t on themselves (AKA fecal japan) ? :confused:

Nothing like an outrageous generalization to make a point, eh?

Neato! I get a little uneasy when I shit really loud in public...I could use this!! :D

they should also add a button that releases a fart noise to freak people out, they must keep balance in the force

Uh Wierd. Honestly using the bathroom can be un nerving for some people I guess but I look at it this way - Everyone has to do it, Everyone has those especially noisy, foul smelling, gross movements at some time or another, Everyone has to use a public bathroom at some point. What does bother me about using the bathroom and either someone else or I have a noisy one is that I tend to want to giggle, be it from nervousness or a perverse sense of humor, I really can't say, but I realise some people would be offended by my giggle. That's when I'd use the Noise Princess.

Honestly that sounds a little uptite. I take my shoes off in the house. I shower every day and my hands get chapped from the number of times that I wash with soap. I would consider myself quite fastidious but bathroom noises? Come on - that's normal and unavoidable. Just don't make your bathroom sounds at my Thanksgiving dinner. NOT at the table please.

I don't know why, but after I read the article, I thought of tubgirl. I then proceeded to vomit, thrice.

This was exactly what I thought of when i made my "outrageous generalization" :rolleyes:

TRUE DAT!!! COURTESY FLUSH PEOPLE!!! Use it....:D

But come on now...those who experience a "Spray the Bowl" type explosion...seriously now what the fuck are you eating that causes that?