During your Japan travels, you will most likely encounter the washlet version of the Japanese toilet at Internet cafes, hotels, ryokans, capsule hotels, restaurants and basically anywhere except for public toilets (although some newer train/large train stations, like shinkansen train stations will have them).

Here are just a few of the variations Japan Travel Mate has seen:

The Japanese toilet...

Just about every toilet will have both Japanese and English labels, so it is quite easy to use.

Japanese toilet - simple control buttons

The most basic versions will have a Shower and Bidet function, and a Stop button which stops the Shower or Bidet.

Control dial for Japanese toilet, to switch between back spray or front bidet.

Japanese toilet operating instructions (for the dial version above)

You won’t often see full operating instructions. The one above was from a hotel room. It explains the basics of how the Japanese toilet works.

Control panel for a more high-end Japanese toilet

More fancier places will have high-tech version of the toilet controls with many more features. Here is an explanation of what you might encounter:

• Flushing the toilet: most toilets have a lever beside the cistern tank, but the high-end ones will have buttons instead. Some even flush automatically:
  • 大 (ookii, big) is for a full flush.
  • 小 (chiisai, small) is for a half flush.
• 止 (yame/yameru, stop) will stop the current function, like turn off the spray or dryer.
• おしり (oshiri, bum/arse/butt/anus) extends a spray jet from under the seat which targets the bit that you would usually wipe with toilet paper. Sometimes I find this to be a really hard jet of water, tricky to get used to.
• やわらか (yawaraka, tender/soft) is similar to oshiri, but is a softer and more?dispersed spray.
• ビデ (bide, bidet) is one for the ladies, to wash the front bits.
• 乾燥 (kansou, dry) is a blow dryer, to dry up all that water spray action.
• ムーブ (muubu, move) will rotate the spray nozzle in various directions.

The rest of the buttons can be ignored, you don’t want to spend too much time on the toilet! So when using a Japanese toilet, just be prepared for a bit of a shock…

I am from Australia and recently travelled to Japan for a holiday. In terms of traditions, we borrow from elsewhere, in terms of historical architecture there is nothing older than 250 years. Travelling to Japan was a chance to visit a country that is most steeped in tradition and culture of their own country – deeply proud and very generous people. It is a challenge and a massive reward holidaying here. So much so that I am now planning on returning to live.

There are so many reasons to visit Japan. Here are my top ten reasons why you should travel to Japan.

1. City, night lights and shopping.

Major shopping hub at Shibuya in Tokyo, near Shibuya 109.

The first of my top 10 reasons to visit Japan is really hard to justify on camera. But the shopping here is something very different, Shibuya 109 is a mutli-storey shopping centre just for teenage girs. And Akihabara in Tokyo is know solely for its electronics and games.

2. Festivals.

Sakura (Japanese Cherry Blossom) during the spring festival in Osaka.

Although in this list of 10 reasons to visit Japan I include only one example of a festival, Japan has many and they are very unique. From the snow and ice festivals in Sapporo in the north and more ancient/traditional festivals with priests and shrines, Japan loves the celebrations!

For more information see Wikipedia’s article on Japanese festivals.

UPDATE: New post ‘Japanese cherry blossom – photos and info‘.

3. Robots, gadgets and all things tech.

Sony AIBO, robot dogs at Roboworld in Fukuoka

Western style Japanese toilet with myriad of controls. Known in Japan as the Washlet (ウォシュレット Woshuretto)."

If you visit Japan, you will encounter one of these Japanese ‘washlet’ toilets. They really should be all over the world! Very hygienic, although it took a few times to get used to the water jets…

4. Castles, temples and shrines.

Okayama-jo, black and gold castle called 'Crow Castle' or 'U-jo'.

5. Efficient transport and the shinkansen (bullet train).

JR Central's Hikari Shinkansen.

Riding on Japan’s bullet train was actually at the top of my mates 10 reasons to visit Japan. Riding along at 300km/h or more, it feels more like air travel than rail travel.

At the opposite end of the speed scale, bicycles have right of way on the roads in Japan.

6. Japanese food and drink (especially Yebisu beer).

Yebisu beer and takoyaki (octopus in battered balls).

Yebisu (pronounced ‘eh-bi-su’) is my favourite Japanese beer, there are a lot of good quality beer in Japan, including beers that aren’t beers… take a look at the Japanese Beer Difference article for an explanation.

7. Manga and anime.

Just a small part of a multi-level book store in Okayama

8. Astro boy.

Statue of Astro Boy (named Atom in Japanese) outside Kyoto train station.

9. Architecture.

ACROS Fukuoka - the green side.

10. Origami, ancient traditions and art.

A tiny origami crane sitting on the bar of a nightclub in Fukuoka

This post marks the beginning of a series of posts, about my trip to Japan. I went to Japan for a holiday for about 1 month. Almost daily I would go to an internet cafe to find something to do – being in a non-English speaking country meant things to do were hard to find on the internet. My site ‘Japan Travel Mate’ aims to provide information on what to do and how to do it when you are in Japan.