This Country's Unique, High-Tech Toilets Offer A Delightful Experience, Per Rick Steves

As one of the world's foremost experts in European travel, Rick Steves is no stranger to a less-than-perfect toilet stop. There are plenty of unexpected tricks you need to know about using the toilet in Europe, and while the situation has improved in the last few years, the Old World's comfort breaks were a byword for discomfort and confusion. Public toilets in the UK, for example, are few and far between, and finding a decent place to relieve yourself often means buying a coffee in a cafe or a pint in a pub at the same time. Steves describes on his website how, although "Europeans do use toilet paper, WCs may not always be well stocked", and that in many countries, you often have to pay to get in. And don't even start on the long-held French and Turkish preference for "a toilet that consists simply of porcelain footprints and a squat-and-aim hole."

So it is perhaps unsurprising that when Rick Steves visited Japan, he was surprised and delighted by what he found in the can. Steves goes as far as to say that "one of my most vivid memories from that trip was the toilets", a remarkable indication of the impact the washrooms in Japan had on his journey (via Rick Steves' Europe). Like much of Japanese culture, the country's toilets are a unique experience in their own right. Filled with high-tech gadgets and next-level functionality, the bathroom experience in Japan is unlike anywhere else, and, according to Rick Steves, "one of the most delightful surprises I've experienced over a lifetime of travels, the memory of which I still cherish."

A toilet in Japan isn't just somewhere to take care of your bodily functions. It is designed to elevate the experience to something comfortable, luxurious, even enjoyable, and to ensure that you have the highest level of service possible. Rick Steves describes his experience in a traditional ryokan, when "in the middle of one January night, I got up, needing to go down the hall. The rocks in the Zen garden were covered by snow. There was no central heating. I could see my breath." He feared the worst, but the heated seat and "playful trickle of water played a soundtrack designed to mask any noise" made the experience delightful.

Japanese toilets tend to be designed to pre-empt their users' needs. They usually boast heated seats, open and close automatically, and play music or ambient background noises to cover up the sounds you might not want others to hear. Many are fitted with a bidet function (generally considered to be the most hygienic way to clean up after an extended stay on the porcelain throne), and some special models even have a gentle air dryer to finish off the experience.

When travelers visit different countries, it is always important to avoid bathroom mistakes, and this is particularly vital in Japan, where etiquette, politeness, and respect are highly valued. For example, it is customary in Japan to remove your outdoor shoes and put on slippers when entering a home, and then to swap those slippers out for specific bathroom slippers when using the toilet. Mixing up the standard slippers with the bathroom slippers is a serious faux pas.

Given the high-tech nature of many Japanese toilets, just operating them can sometimes be a tricky business. They are usually controlled by buttons on a side control panel, but if these are in Japanese, then they can seem bewildering to foreigners. Brushing up on common symbols on a toilet is an essential travel hack when visiting Japan, and it is wise to have your Google Translate app on hand before you start pressing buttons at random, to avoid any untoward mishaps.