Luxurious toilets complete with heated seats and cleansing jets of water are so common in Japan they¡¯ve become almost synonymous with its culture. They¡¯re now taking off in the U.S. ¡ª thanks in no small part due to pandemic-induced shortages of toilet paper.
Japan¡¯s largest toilet maker Toto Ltd., which introduced the Washlet in 1980 as a high-tech version of the bidet, said sales of the device more than doubled in the first quarter of 2020 from a year earlier, and jumped 18% in the first quarter of 2022 from the prior year. The outlook for further growth is bright, despite the ¡°toilet paper panic¡± being over, company executive Shinya Tamura said in an interview.
¡°Although Washlet sales in the U.S. have grown significantly, they are still far behind the penetration rate in Japan,¡± said Tamura, who is the managing executive officer in charge of Toto¡¯s housing equipment business in North America and Europe. ¡°I still see a great room for growth in the U.S.¡±
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