International News
Feeling Flush: Japan’s High-Tech Toilets Go Global
As Japan plays host to a record influx of tourists, one of the country’s more private attractions — the high-tech toilet — is becoming a must-have in luxury bathrooms worldwide.
With their warm seats and precision spray technology, bidet toilets are the norm in Japan, where more than 80 percent of homes have one, according to a government survey.
Now sales are surging abroad and especially in the United States, led by A-list bidet fans such as Drake, the Kardashians and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Japanese company TOTO, which pioneered the electric bidets it claims have sparked “a global revolution from wiping to washing”, says overseas revenue for toilets has roughly doubled from 100 billion yen ($673 million) in 2012.
The pandemic was a key driver, bringing a home-renovation boom but also germ-conscious consumers desperate for an alternative to toilet paper after shelves were cleared by panic-buyers.
Senior TOTO executive Shinya Tamura, who oversees international business, said the brand’s growth has been a word-of-mouth success.
When people first learn how the toilets’ water jets work, with pressure and temperature controls, “there’s an image that it’s not pleasant”.
But “we can’t explain how good it is with words. You need to experience it”, Tamura said.
“After a while, most users can’t live without it.”
The company’s international net sales for housing equipment are currently less than a third of those in Japan.
It wants to boost sales in the Americas by 19 percent over two years to “establish a solid position” there and offset less urgent demand in China.
But with more people in the market for a squeaky clean bum, US competitors are challenging TOTO and its Japanese rivals such as Panasonic and LIXIL for their throne.
‘Smartest toilet’
At a major tech fair in Las Vegas this year, the marketing manager of US brand Kohler called its Numi 2.0 — which takes spoken instructions via an in-built Amazon Alexa — “the smartest toilet that exists”.
Just like top-end Japanese models, the Numi 2.0 has an automatic deodoriser and a motion-activated lid that opens when you enter the bathroom and closes when you leave.
Its spray wand has pulsating and oscillating functions, and users can adjust the warm-air dryer in minute detail.
But such pampering comes at a price: around $8,500 to $10,000, compared to around $500 for more basic bidet seats.
Americans who travel to Japan are often inspired to upgrade their toilet, a salesman at Ardy’s Bath Collection in Beverly Hills told AFP.
“They see it in the airport, and they see it in public restrooms, and they use it, and they’re like, ‘wow, this is great,’” he said.
Bidets are “popular everywhere” but it’s still a “private experience” and “weird to talk about” for some customers.
Although fancy Japanese-style toilets are fast becoming a status symbol, TOTO’s executives have long fought prudishness when trying to expand abroad.
After the US launch of its Washlet bidet in 1986, the firm struggled to place advertisements, and its pop-up event was kicked out of a high-end mall because other stores complained.
‘Does it hurt?’
How things have changed in the share-all internet era.
“Why am I nervous? Does it hurt? Is it cold?” 21-year-old Canadian Spencer Barbosa, who has 10 million TikTok followers, said in a clip of her trying a Japanese toilet.
Superstar rapper Drake made a grand public gesture of gifting his friend DJ Khaled luxury TOTO loos in 2022.
And US congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez joked in an Instagram video last year that she was shopping for a bidet after going to Japan because “life will never be the same”.
Funnily enough, when TOTO first began selling bidets — to hospitals in Japan — it imported them from the United States, but users complained that the stream was unstable.
The company was founded in 1917 as a father and son from a wealthy business family tried to bring Western-style ceramic toilets to Japan.
With sewer systems still undeveloped and squat-style toilets common, the business struggled, so they relied on tableware sales until habits began to change after the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, said Junichi Koga, head of TOTO’s history museum.
More than 300 employees helped develop and test the Washlet by specifying their preferred location for the water jet.
Now, worldwide, TOTO has sold 60 million Washlets — featured in episodes of “The Kardashians” and “South Park”, which parodied the company as “TOOTTOOT”.
As the bidet craze grows, even the trepidatious might be converted in time, the Ardy’s salesman said.
He recommends customers put in the necessary electrics when they remodel their bathroom, telling them: “You could always buy it down the line”.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
The South African government says more than 53,000 foreign nationals have been deported or repatriated since launching a “migration management” campaign five weeks ago.
Most were from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, officials say, and the number is likely to rise as repatriations and deportations continue.
South Africa is carrying out one of its biggest crackdowns on undocumented migrants in years, following weeks of anti-immigration protests that have seen violence, intimidation and looting.
Protesters have been demanding tighter border controls and mass deportations, accusing migrants of contributing to high unemployment, rising crime rates and collapse of public services.
The UN has warned against using migrants as scapegoats for South Africa’s socioeconomic challenges.
Anti-migrant activists have threatened to stage weekly protests to pressure the government until their demands are met, and there are fears the protests could turn violent.
The demonstrators had set an “unofficial deadline” of 30 June for all undocumented migrants to leave the country, which has seen many foreigners leave to escape violence and intimidation.
Several countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, have flown their citizens home in recent weeks.
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi announced on Sunday that 53,499 foreign nationals have been processed for deportation and repatriation, “which is dominated by the Malawians, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans”.
“We are striving to achieve an orderly and regular migration which is mindful and sensitive to the concerns raised by our people, while observing human rights and dignity of all people in our country, irrespective of their citizenship and immigration status,” Kubayi told a news conference in Pretoria.
She said the repatriation and deportation process has helped them catch people who were wanted by the police for alleged criminal activity.
Authorities will continue to enforce its immigration laws, she added, but warned that protesters should not conduct unauthorised searches of homes and businesses that are suspected of sheltering undocumented migrants.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged public concerns about immigration but has condemned attacks against migrants, warning citizens against taking the law into their own hands.
South Africa is the continent’s wealthiest nation and has long attracted migrants searching for better economic opportunities, some of whom enter the country illegally.
‘
Plans for a 64-team men’s World Cup are set to be assessed after the 2026 tournament, with Fifa boss Gianni Infantino saying the event needs to be “for the whole world”.
The proposal for an expanded tournament was put forward last year, and Infantino says the success of the expanded 48-team tournament means Fifa should look at how a 64-team World Cup could work.
“These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup,” Infantino told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport, external when asked if the tournament could grow to 64 teams.
“When organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.
“You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”
Infantino said that the first 48-team World Cup has been “a huge success”, citing the progression of nine out of 10 African teams to the knockout stages.
“At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa,” he said. “That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate.”
The Fifa council approved the expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams in 2017.
An official proposal to boost the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams was put forward by South American governing body Conmebol in April 2025, but no decision has been reached.
The 2030 edition will be mainly co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with the three opening matches to be hosted by Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to celebrate the centenary of the competition. Uruguay hosted the first World Cup, in 1930.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is among those to have dismissed the 64-team proposal, with the Slovenian saying it is a “bad idea” for both the tournament itself and the qualifying process.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa agreed, saying further expansion would bring “chaos”.
Victor Montagliani, president of the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf), said the suggestion “doesn’t feel right” and he believes the expansion would damage “the broader football ecosystem”.
However, Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House’s World Cup task force, said the United States could consider making a bid to host the 2038 World Cup and would be able to “handle it” if expanded to 64 teams.
Fifa’s official position has always been it will discuss expansion ideas with stakeholders and it is duty bound to consider any proposals from council members.
The Fifa council would make the ultimate decision, but there are no signs it is something expected to happen imminently.
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