Plumbing in Japan is bizzare, if not interesting!

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Basement_Lurker

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I just got back from a nice trip to Japan. What a fascinating place! While most people look at the county in terms of flashy lights, temples, and skyscrapers! I couldn't help but take notice of their building practices....and all I can say is that I am glad to be back in good ol' North America where at least the public bathrooms aren't actually public!

Here's some random pics I collected in my travels:

The first is a pic of a toilet made by one of Toto's local competitors....it flushes and fills from the bottom, was fairly quiet, and managed to create what looked like a fairly strong initial flush followed by a nice fancy whirlpool afterwards! I am not sure of the performance versus a traditional tank mounted toilet, but I was pretty impressed by the quality of the other products that I saw from this manufacturer.

The second and third are of one of the original bathrooms in a British designed manor home in Tokyo. The urinal was made by the famous ceramics company Royal Doulton! There is an original flush tank toilet behind the urinal but the bathroom was roped off so I couldn't see it for myself.

And the last set are of one of the two bathrooms in one of the oldest surviving schoolhouses in the country...I can't remember exactly how old off the top of my head, but you can be sure it was at least a few centuries old. There is a squat toilet, and what I assumed was a communal bathing area for the students (notice the slope in the floor, unfortunately I did not have my trusty plumber's level to check for 1/4" slope...) There was a wooden sink, but it was covered over for some reason.
 

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Terry

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Was the other brand INAX?
They are the second largest plumbing manufacturer in the world behind TOTO.
Thanks for the pictures and description.

I'm still waiting for Ian to post his Africa pictures.
 

Basement_Lurker

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Hi Terry,

Yes, actually it was INAX. I had never heard of that manufacturer before, and when I checked them out on the net, they did have a global operations website set up, but nothing really accessible to the end user from what I could tell. Perhaps they do more business in Europe.
 

Basement_Lurker

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Here are a few more pictures from my trip in case anybody else finds this stuff interesting:

Pic 1 is one of the fancier squat toilets that I saw, and to my surprise squat toilets were the norm, especially if you were in a smaller city or not in a major establishment.

Pics 2 & 3 are of a lav sink drain...most bathroom drains that I saw seem to go to what I assume was a shared floor drain, and most utilized a flexible drain hose.

Pic 4 is of the type of urinals found almost everywhere in Japan, almost all are full height and have a fancy hands free flush sensor. Every public bathroom has one urinal with bumps on the floor for blind people to position themselves properly as well as bars to keep them centered.

Pic 5 is a kneeling tub. It is actually pretty luxurious to find a 5' tub as 4' tubs are the norm if you are lucky enough to have one.
 

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