{
  "title": "toilet-technology",
  "updated": "2026-09-08",
  "status": "Published ownership observations and sourced product history; survey dates and populations differ.",
  "tables": {
    "toilets-japan-adoption": [
      {
        "year": 2005,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 59.7,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2006,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 62.7,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2007,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 65.3,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2008,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 68.3,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2009,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 69.1,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2010,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 71.6,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2011,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 70.9,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2012,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 73.5,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2013,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 74.0,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2014,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 76.0,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2015,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 77.5,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2016,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 81.2,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2017,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 79.1,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2018,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 80.2,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2019,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 80.4,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2020,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 80.2,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2021,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 80.3,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2022,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 80.3,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2023,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 81.7,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2024,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 82.0,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2025,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 82.5,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      },
      {
        "year": 2026,
        "reference_month": "March",
        "ownership_percent": 82.5,
        "population": "households with two or more people",
        "device": "warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "status": "published historical series; check survey-method changes before causal trend analysis"
      }
    ],
    "toilets-comparison": [
      {
        "country": "Japan",
        "value_percent": 82.5,
        "reference_period": "March 2026",
        "measure": "household ownership of warm-water washing toilet seat",
        "denominator": "households with two or more people",
        "sample_n": null,
        "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
        "comparability": "not equivalent to all-household or individual ownership"
      },
      {
        "country": "United States",
        "value_percent": 6,
        "reference_period": "2022-09-14/2022-09-19",
        "measure": "respondent already has a bidet at home",
        "denominator": "US adult citizens",
        "sample_n": 1000,
        "source_id": "us_bidet2022",
        "comparability": "older broad bidet measure, not heated-seat ownership; not a current 2026 estimate"
      },
      {
        "country": "United States",
        "value_percent": 21,
        "reference_period": "2025-07-06/2025-07-30",
        "measure": "bidet toilet seat among upgraded/new toilet features",
        "denominator": "Houzz bathroom renovators adding or upgrading toilets",
        "sample_n": null,
        "source_id": "us_houzz2025",
        "comparability": "overall study n=1738, subset n not stated here; not national adoption"
      },
      {
        "country": "Japan",
        "value_percent": 79,
        "reference_period": "2025-09-29/2025-10-06",
        "measure": "uses washing function at least occasionally under survey categories",
        "denominator": "people who already have warm-water washing toilets at home",
        "sample_n": 4700,
        "source_id": "jp_toilet_use2026",
        "comparability": "equal prefecture/age/sex quotas; usage among owners, not ownership"
      }
    ]
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "jp_toilets2026",
      "publisher": "Cabinet Office, Economic and Social Research Institute",
      "title": "Consumer Confidence Survey, March 2026",
      "url": "https://www.esri.cao.go.jp/jp/stat/shouhi/honbun202603.pdf",
      "scope_note": "Warm-water washing toilet seats; households with two or more people; national household survey. Ownership, not use.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "jp_toilet_use2026",
      "publisher": "Japan Restroom Industry Association",
      "title": "National washing-toilet usage survey 2026",
      "url": "https://www.sanitary-net.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/260121_washNR.pdf",
      "scope_note": "Fielded 2025-09-29 to 2025-10-06. 4,700 respondents, 100 per prefecture, all already have washing toilets at home; age/sex quotas. Not adoption.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "us_bidet2022",
      "publisher": "YouGov",
      "title": "Bathroom Experiences survey tables",
      "url": "https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/results_Bathroom_Experiences.pdf",
      "scope_note": "September 14-19 2022, 1,000 US adult citizens; question 17 PDF page 66. Do not call it a 2026 estimate.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "us_houzz2025",
      "publisher": "Houzz Research",
      "title": "2025 US Bathroom Trends Study",
      "url": "https://st.hzcdn.com/static/econ/2025_US_Houzz_Bathroom_Trends_Study__.pdf",
      "scope_note": "July 6-30 2025, 1,738 registered Houzz users; unweighted. Feature percentages concern toilet-upgrading renovators, not all US households.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "toilet_history_1",
      "title": "INAX: product heritage",
      "url": "https://www.inax.com/jp/about-inax/heritage/",
      "scope_note": "Sanitarina 61 (1967), F1 (1976), SATIS (2001) and Aqua Ceramic (2016). Manufacturer history.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "toilet_history_2",
      "title": "TOTO: WASHLET product history",
      "url": "https://www.toto.com/en/washlethistory/",
      "scope_note": "Dated introductions of washing, ceramic, energy-saving and automatic cleaning features. Manufacturer history.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "toilet_history_3",
      "title": "Panasonic: Arauno development and history",
      "url": "https://news.panasonic.com/jp/topics/204962",
      "scope_note": "December 2006 launch; resin bowl and detergent-foam cleaning. Manufacturer account published in 2022.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "toilet_history_4",
      "title": "Behind the Bidet: Arnold Cohen interviewed in 2007",
      "url": "https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/behind-the-bidet-6333724/",
      "scope_note": "Calvin Godfrey’s reporting on American Bidet and Kohler’s C3. Cohen’s lifetime-sales estimate is his own recollection.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "toilet_history_5",
      "title": "Kohler: Numi launch, April 14, 2011",
      "url": "https://www.kohler.com.sg/press-releases/kohler-launches-its-most-advanced-toilet-yet-numi.html",
      "scope_note": "Features announced for the original Numi.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "toilet_history_6",
      "title": "Kohler: Numi 2.0",
      "url": "https://www.kohler.com/en/press-room/numi-2-0-press-release",
      "scope_note": "Later product development, including voice control; not a measure of sales or household adoption.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "toto_imports",
      "publisher": "TOTO",
      "title": "WASHLET development history",
      "url": "https://jp.toto.com/page/en/history/challenge/05/index.htm",
      "scope_note": "Development involved imported Wash Air Seats; avoid claiming Japan invented every component.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    },
    {
      "source_id": "epa_toilets",
      "publisher": "US Environmental Protection Agency",
      "title": "WaterSense residential toilets",
      "url": "https://www.epa.gov/watersense/residential-toilets",
      "scope_note": "WaterSense 1.28 gallons per flush versus federal 1.6; flushing water efficiency is distinct from bidet washing.",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-09-08"
    }
  ]
}