Rinse your hand as the tank refills.
This is hardly a travel adventure story but I am always excited about creative solutions especially with regard to environmental, social or energy issues.
It is for this reason, I love this modification to the Japanese toilet system.
We almost all know the Japanese toilets are renown for their bum washing system. You would press a button or two and water would spray into your nether hole to cleanse it.
So it came as a surprise when I saw this in a toilet in Osaka.
Basically, water that refills your toilet tank is clean water. So instead of simply wasting that water, why not use it to rinse your hands before the sits in the tank?
That is the basis of this system. The faucet attached to the sink above the toilet starts to flow soon after the flush, as that water refills the tank.
Place your hand there and rinse before the tank is fill. After all, you don’t really need to flush with clean water.
The only draw back I can see is that the water needs to be filtered before it goes out to flush, preventing any foreign objects from clogging the system.
That is where the Japanese honour system kicks in well. You would be hard pressed to find a Japanese individual who would willingly break that system.