You ever have one of those days where you find yourself regressing heavily for no particular reason? I mean, even more than the INSEAD norm. Why yes, I do? How did you know?

OK, so it started this weekend in Kuala Lumpur. Our hotel had a washlet. Don’t know what a washlet is? I didn’t either. In fact, not until today. All I knew was that our toilet had several knobs that, when turned, activated various jets, which, for lack of a more scientific (or childish) description, did what you would normally call upon a paper product to do. There were two knobs, actually, one pink and one blue, with very simple glyphs on them, which didn’t seem to necessarily correspond with the color of the knob (the blue more than the pink).

Anyway, I was in the library chatting with a friend today who is half-japanese and spent a good deal of time in Japan recently, and I remembered her telling me stories about how fabulous Japanese toilets were. And so I described my Malaysian toilet. And she said “oh, a washlet.” And I said “Is that the lingo for those things?” And she replied “I think it might be a brand name, I’m not sure.” Well, it was either investigate that, or continue working on my Business Law midterm, due next week. Easy decision…

While it is difficult to pick my favorite section of the official website for TOTO’s Washlet line of “innovative bathroom products” I encourage you all to visit www.washlet.com and choose for yourself. You may also like the watch the series of Washlet movies available at the washlet demo page . A better exam-study diversion I have yet to find. And note, while I have used only one model, even though I find their website highly entertaining, I find their product highly effective, and am very curious to try a model with a remote control, hot air jets, and massaging wash features.


So, for those of you who were asking why I hadn’t written in so long, this is what you get…