Japan’s obsession for high-tech toilets results in a $60 million dollar toilet museum by 'Washlet' maker Toto

Ever been obsessed with toilets? Japan is and that is why popular Japanese brand and Washlet maker Toto has created a toilet museum worth $60 million at its home base in Kita-Kyushu, the southern-most of the four Japanese islands. Surprisingly, toilets are a very important part of Japanese culture. The museum is devoted to Toto’s renowned product the “Washlet.”

Washroom, restroom, loo, potties, whatever you may call it, Japan has put a lot of thought in its tushie-warming, smallest room in a house – the toilet. The museum has been designed to celebrate Toto’s 100^th anniversary in 2017. About 30,000 visitors have already visited the museum in the three months it has been open.

It’s a sight to behold – large groups of men in suits being taken through galleries and everyone listening with utmost attention to their guide bearing witness to Japan’s incomparable technological expertise, its attention to personal hygiene and commitment to providing the most comfortable hospitality, reports The Washington Post.

Thousands of items have been displayed in the museum that showcase Japanese toilet evolution from ceramic squatters to the “Washlet.” This month, the company has shipped its 40 millionth “Washlet.”

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has lauded Japan’s advancement in technology and its application in the sanitation sector.

“In terms of sanitation, toilets are a way to encourage women's participation in society, and there is a lot more Japan can do. Japan has very advanced technology in terms of toilets in particular,” Mr. Abe told The Wall Street Journal.

In August, the Japanese minister for women's empowerment, Haruko Arimura, told the government's World Assembly of Women forum in Tokyo that washrooms are so crucial to a woman’s development that she won’t mind if she is known as the “minister of toilets.”

“Without appropriate environments where women can use sanitation facilities, their access to social participation in schools and workplaces is restricted,” she added, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

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