Why all this flushing? To mask any “embarrassing” sounds – such as pee hitting water. So, women flush before/during and after – occasionally using as many as three flushes.
This is a trend that began, to my knowledge, more than five years ago, and one to which I’ve become so accustomed that I hardly even notice it anymore. And I probably wouldn’t be writing about it now, either, except that I’ve noticed certain gadgets that have turned up in the women’s washrooms over the past year or so – electronic noise makers.
With heightened awareness of and concern for water conservation, corporations and other places which offer public washroom facilities knew that they had to put a stop to the useless waste of water, and it would be pretty hard to monitor a “one flush” rule! The electronic sound makers - that actually make “flushing” sounds - seem to be working: I’ve been hearing fewer natural flushes of late:-)
2 comments:
Hi! Interesting reading but a bit surprising. Recordings of toilets flushing have been used in Japanese bathrooms for at least 8 years. I fumbled around a new building's bathroom in 1998 in an attempt to flush the toilet for real. One of the buttons I pushed produced the sound but there was no action in the bowl. This newbie (at the time) was completely confused! For those who wonder, yes, I did find the toilet's lever...eventually.
I, too, have a flushing story. While in a public bathroom in Hiroshima, I was startled to hear the toilet flush as I stood up. Having decided it was one of those new-fangled auto-flush models, I prepared to exit the stall. Fortunately I glanced down (the toilet was oriented sideways to the stall, as they often are in Japan but rarely are in the States)and was appalled to see that it had not flushed after all. I was able to manually flush it before I embarressed myself. Truly confusing.
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