Japanese bathrooms are kind of schizophrenic. On the one hand, they are monuments to cleanliness. Most private bathrooms have showers on the outside of the tub, so you can shower before you soak. The floors have drains, so that the whole room can be easily cleaned.
Toilets, even some in public restrooms, often have bidet functions. The bathroom in our apartment has a whole panel of buttons with different types of functions. It also has a sensor that turns on a night light and a fan. The toilet seat is heated and it automatically flushes. We have a diagram hanging on the wall above the button panel that explains all of the functions, otherwise our visitors get very confused!
On the other extreme, many public toilets are pit toilets or squatty potties, as the kids call them. These are basically just holes in the floor that you squat over. In many remote areas, these are the only toilets available. I've never used one, but I've been told that the lower you squat, the less you splash. I have no idea how older Japanese women manage. They must have amazing leg muscles!
These pit toilets are very common in Asia and are apparently also found in parts of Europe. I'd never seen one before I moved here. I have to say, even the public Japanese squatty potties are much cleaner than those we saw in China. This was one we saw at a high end restaurant in China. The basket in the corner was for used toilet paper. The smell was indescribable!
Most public restrooms in Japan are not heated or air conditioned, have only cold water faucets (not pleasant in the middle of winter!), do not have soap (this is the thing I find most surprising in a country with such a high standard of cleanliness) and have no mechanism for drying your hands. Most Japanese women carry a small towel in their purse to use for this purpose.
Those that do have western style toilets, usually do have heated toilet seats though and almost all public restrooms are very clean. More and more public restrooms are including western toilets, especially in the handicapped stalls, and often have automatic faucets and high efficiency hand dryers.
Signs in a public restroom for the two types of toilets.
My guess is that the cold water faucets, lack of soap and towels is mechanism for saving energy. Even the pit toilets are supposed to be much easier and more efficient to clean. However, as an American, this is one area where I'm reminded that I'm a foriegner almost every day.
This is one super efficient model that allows you to wash your hands in the clean water as it fills the toilet tank!
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