Japan’s smart toilets in hot seat as ageing units pose fire and burn risks, report warns

There have been 69 reported cases of injury involving the devices over the last decade, according to a government agency report

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An employee of Japanese electronics giant Matsushita displaying the company’s latest hi-tech toilet seat model in 2002. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:47pm, 22 Oct 2024

Japan’s much-vaunted electric toilet seats, long a symbol of the nation’s innovation and hygiene obsession, are increasingly posing a danger to users according to a report by the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE), with 69 incidents reported in the last decade.

Users have sustained serious burns from seats that have overheated on older models that incorporate a bidet function, while others have been scalded by hot water escaping from damaged units, NITE said in a statement. Others reported being affected by smoke when plastic components in the devices caught fire.

“All electrical appliances have a lifespan,” the government agency said in the statement released to This Week in Asia. “In order to continue using an electric toilet comfortably, it is important to recognise that these seats are electrical appliances and to take note of malfunctions or abnormalities in products that have been used for many years by checking them daily.

“In a worst-case scenario, leaving malfunctions or abnormalities unattended can lead to fires,” it added.

The control panel of a “shower toilet” or washlet seen in an apartment in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

The first toilet seats with a built-in bidet were released in 1967 and very quickly caught on in a nation where personal cleanliness is considered of paramount importance. By 2016, 80 per cent of all homes and businesses in the country had a “smart toilet”, with current estimates suggesting virtually every household now has one.