For the ladies who go to Japan only
 

Guys, no need to read further.

Ladies, if you are like me and just can't get used to the Japanese style toilets (or just aren't a good aim), I found a helpful nifty disposable device available on www.travelsmith.com

http://www.travelsmith.com/ts/cookie...entOID=3508680

Take out the reference to Japan and you could post this info on the Europe page for travellers to Turkey or on the airlines page (for reasons that I won't explain but if you are familiar with the devolution of the "Freak or Normal" thread then you may understand).

I assure you that there are some guys who could put that product to good use.

Uh, ok. Didn't mean to be sexist (but generally the guys I know have better aim, or at least I think they do - maybe that is a misconception on my part and they perhpas do not)...

Anyway, I thought it was a great idea and I ordered some! Will see if it works better than "hit or miss" of last year.

$6.75 for 7! That's an expensive pee!

What is it about Fodor's that has me scurrying to the nearest website to discover more information? This one has a virtual dissertation on toilets and toilet habits.

I have never laughed so much!The mental images! Excuse me, tears of laughter are rolling down my face--I am just going to have to go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_toilet

Gill.

Oh, and the other thing----

For all these years---- re. those squat type toilets-- I think that I have been facing the wrong way!!!

cool!

Gilland, that is just it. The mental images are definitely funny, but it is embarrassing as well as funny!

What someone needs to make and sell is a portable railing that you can have in your purse and when you use the squat toilets you smack this handle on the wall and give youself a bit of help getting "down and up" if you catch my drift. Being middle aged and having a bum knee, I would pay for that too.

OK. Now for the 64 million $ question: Which way is one supposed to squat - towards the "lip" thing that sticks up from the floor, or the other way? None of the guide books discuss this. I have always assumed it is toward the "lip" thing, but maybe I am backwards too.

That Wikipedia article is very funny (ie. the grunt bar, etc). Now I know which way to face and squatting etiquitte. And now I know why they say squat toliets are "better" for you (two studies are actually cited in that article). But I still don't like them and need all the help I can get. And personally I have never seen any plumbing pipes that could be used for balance.

emd:
you face opposite the way you do a western toilet....i hope :)
Aloha!

Wikipedia article (Very thorough discussion of the topic) says you face the "hemispherical hood"

So at least I got that part right. But being in the right direction doesn't seem to help me much.

And the Wikipedia article says clearly that many squat toliets are a source of frustration for foreign visitors (see the "cultural aspect" discussion in the article), so in the words of John Lennon, "i'm not the only one..."

I sort of got used to them.....although most places did have Western style facilities - I did experience the squat and actually saw the point of them being more sanitary. I was on a line in the ladies room once and the women in front of me motioned for me to go ahead as the first empty stall was the Western toilet....