I have a fairly fancy toilet in my house but I'm not into using any of the functions other than the heated seat during winter. Heated seats are much appreciated in an Hokkaido winter!

Yeah I like the heating seat too, It makes you feel good in cold weather.

This heated seat is disturbing O_O

Erm, as an American who will one day had just arrived in a Japanese place with these toilets, is it much different from US toilets?

It's not different from any other toilet on the planet, except the seat cover that has electronic features. You just drop your bomb into it, then flush it.

But some more hi-end toilet like the Neorest is quite difficult to use because

1. It has auto-open seat cover that use infrared to sense that you are coming to use it.
2. All of its button including flush is electronic button that has Japanese word on it (not push-down valve like normal toilet, Neorest is electronic operated). You got to guess what button is for flushing.
3. From above all the other buttons are Japanese too like bottom washing or heating function so you got to guess it.

But don't be afraid of it! If you could open the seat and flush it, it will be OK.

And there aren't many of this super hi-end toilet too. Most of the place is still use normal toilet that got hi-tech seat cover, that're not different than the one in the US.

Haha, you'd think, but then that's seriously underestimating the long arm of the Health and Safety officer here in the UK. It's insane. For the same reason a lot of bathrooms only have a string-pull light-switch (because you can touch it safely with wet hands, being separate from the electric source by a good foot or so), instead of a conventional flick switch. And you won't find anything other than a 'safe' shaving plug/toothbrush plug in a bathroom either, which is a special shape so you can't plug any other electrical item into it. And just to top it off, your electric cord for your beard trimmer or toothbrush can only be so long, to discourage people from using non-specialized waterproof equipment in the bath.

Daft innit?

Heated seats with infrared and all kinds of buttons? What's next, a talking toilet?

A heated seat is the farthest thing from disturbing when it's literally zero degrees (celcius) inside your apartment. If you've opened your fridge and felt "heat" then you'd probably come to appretiate a heated toilet seat.

Coming to Japan, I was well aware of the heated toilet seat thing as well as the squat toilets and stuff like that, but what I was most suprised to see was straight up urinals inside of peoples' bathrooms! Even though it makes sense, as a westerne I felt like it didn't have that "at home feel". I'm used to it now though.

When I stopped by Narita Airport I was sure to make a trip to the washroom to try out the toilet at least once! It was so high tech! Haha!

But speaking on toilets... does anyone know if they still have the toilets with the sinks on them? I'd rather get one of those!