Blowing the lid off the allure of Japanese toilet seats

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-03-10

An ad of the Chinese brand Ryoji's smart toilet seat. (Photo/Ryoji)

Among the fancy goods brought home by a number of Chinese visitors to Japan, one favored item is a smart toilet seat. However, to the chagrin of these buyers it has been found that in many cases the specialized seats are actually made in China.

Smart toilet covers are an emerging line in China, with annual output reaching 1-2 million units, a great majority of which are shipped to Japan, leaving only less than 300,000 in the domestic market, according to Shanghai's China Business News.

Liu Wengui, chair of the Feshan Bathroom Ware Industry Association, said that the case underscores the blind fascination of Chinese people with foreign-made goods and their lack of faith in indigenous wares.

Liu added that with a history of just four to five years, the local smart toilet cover industry now has some 30 manufacturers, located mainly in Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian provinces, centers of the local bathroom-ware industry. Those manufacturers have focused their sales on Japan, due to the limited demand from the domestic market, where the product's penetration rate reaches less than 1%, compared with 86% there.

Ma Yue, managing director of Sanhualingzhi Electronics in Xi'an and founder of a local smart toilet cover brand, said that annual sales of smart toilet covers top 4 million pieces in Japan a year, which are mostly manufactured in China, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Factories of Japan's TOTO and Panasonic in Suzhou and Hangzhou, for instance, have been turning out smart toilet covers.

Smart toilet covers in Japan now boast increasingly sophisticated functions on top of their original function of washing. These include heated rings, adjustable water temperatures and dual nozzles.

Yang Yuanqing, chair of PC giant Lenovo Group, said that Chinese people going to Japan to purchase smart toilet covers underscores their lack of confidence in the quality assurance of local brands.

Zhang Yachen, an industry veteran, said that the purchase of smart toilet covers by Chinese consumers in Japan is just a transitional phenomenon. "In sharp contrast to the initial dominance of foreign brands, indigenous TV and air-conditioner brands now enjoy a firm foothold in the domestic market," Zhang said.

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