How to use the Washlet in Japan
Que pasa? It’s Mr.Wada on duty. I’m in the washroom for some reason…top secret. Guess what I see in here. The Washlet. Know what it is? OK, here it goes.
Contents
What is Washlet?
To describe it in a simple way, it’s a butt washer installed on a toilet. Most probably you see it at restaurants, etc in Japan. It seemed to be made for medical use at first but it is now available for general use. Also it’s hemorrhoid patients friendly as well.
Many kinds of the Washlet have functionality of warming up the seat. You would appreciate it during cold days in winter. If you have never used the Washlet, you might want to try this out while in Japan, though for meanwhile you should know how to use the Washlet properly NOT to mess up. Let me start with WHY I’m telling you this.
A nightmare of my childhood
In my childhood, my friend had the Washlet at his place. One day I saw this Washlet in the washroom. It was my first time to see such a thing. The toilet’s got many buttons! Me, as a little child, got curious and couldn’t resist not to touch them (especially for kids at that age), I pressed one of the buttons and then SPLASH! It blew like a fountain! I panicked and had no idea what to do. Then my friend’s mom came in and stopped it but it left me soaking wet! Since then I’d been afraid of this Washlet thing…
(Photo credit: Petras Gagilas)
Time to rise…no, sit
A few years go though, I happened to have a Washlet at my place (it was already installed when I moved in). I was still skeptical to it. However, come to think of it, it’s been a long time since it happened. I thought, maybe it’d be time to get over the nightmare of my childhood and give it a shot.
Control panel of the Washlet
How exactly a Washlet is like?
Let’s say I’m done with the bowel movement (don’t let me explain in details). Now what?
Take a look closer. It’s a control panel of our Washlet. These four buttons on top are STOP, REGULAR, GENTLE, and BIDET. The two buttons lower left are power level, the other two on the right are for adjusting angles (forward or backward).
OK, I’ll go for REGULAR.
As the button is pressed, it gets in motion. Hold your body tight and get ready…
Hell, this little evil is aiming at me down there!
Here comes…
BOOM!
(Photo credit: Alexxx Malev)
Current setting is a little hard for me. Now I gotta lower the power level a little….
Hm…it feels alright. I’m good. Now press the STOP button and that’s it. I made it!
Oh, don’t forget to flush though.
Done!
Refreshed?
It wasn’t bad at all. However, you should be careful if current setting of the power level is very high, it could blow your hole.
I feel cleaned and anyhow more confident than before (hehe). OK, I can live with it. It took me such a long time to familiarize it but it might not take that long for you. Please try it and let me know how it goes. See you around.
Heh heh. Your story reminds me of a similar episode in my life.
I remember being at a hotel once which had such a machine installed. I merely wanted to flush but didn’t see any levers, only a lot of buttons. I pressed one and as you mentioned, the thing went berserk. I tried to turn it off by pressing more buttons, but only made things worse. Eventually, I had to get staff to come up and turn it off. They also pointed out the flush lever.
Unlike you, I’m not sure I’ve ever fully recovered.