One of my first experiences in Japan was visiting a public bathroom at my local university. After a long flight I felt the very strong urge to spend some quality time alone, sitting in deep thought about my journey to Asia. I didn’t spend all that much time thinking before I become increasingly aware of the sound of running water coming from my stall. While very relaxing in itself, I became overly paranoid that the high tech toilet would erupt on me.

It turned out that the toilet had a built in sound system that activated upon sitting. Playing a wonderful little sound of running water. For the longest time I was confused about the ‘why’ of this wonderful bit of Japanese technology. At least until I talked to some Japanese women. Then it all made perfect sense.

Japanese women on a whole have a massive fear of people hearing them in the bathroom. So much in fact that the standard practice for women is to constantly flush their toilet in order to mask any sounds they’re making. This then leads to massive amounts of water usage, as instead of one flush you might end up with four or five. To combat this toilet makers in Japan (besides adding the amazing feature of heated toilet seats) added a built in sound system. While this seems to have made a dent in water usage in women’s restrooms its not completely eliminated the problem. Old habits are hard to break I guess.

So if you’re a western person with similar issues you may want to pick up a little Disney Toilet Noise maker to carry around with you. Or just use them as stocking stuffers if you have a prudish friend who constantly turns on the sink while taking a bathroom break.

(Via Rinkya)