July 29, 2020

TOTO, the world’s largest plumbing manufacturer with more than $5.47 billion in annual sales, announced today that 40 years ago, the company introduced WASHLET, its high-luxe, electronic bidet seat. A neologism arising from “Let’s Wash,” WASHLET is a registered trademark of TOTO.

With the launch of WASHLET, TOTO established an entirely new personal care product category and ignited a worldwide revolution in personal hygiene. Far superior to the paper alternative, WASHLET provides consumers with the kind of clean that makes them feel more refreshed, rejuvenated, and confident than they have ever felt after a bathroom break. Today, WASHLET is recognized as the best-selling brand of toilet seats with bidet functions in the world.¹

 “Since the founding of TOTO over 100 years ago, our core mission has been to improve people’s lives with innovative, high-quality products,” said Shinya Tamura, CEO, TOTO USA. “When we launched WASHLET in 1980, we introduced a product that revolutionized the way people perform an important daily ritual.” He continued. “With WASHLET, they could use warm water to cleanse post toileting instead of dry paper. Consumers found they were cleaner and more comfortable than they had ever felt before. Today, we have sold over 50-million WASHLET globally because consumers are confident they meet our exacting standards for quality and reliability, which are the highest in the industry.”

The First WASHLET

Before its launch in 1980, TOTO engineers worked tirelessly product testing its original WASHLET model to find the ideal angle at which water should spray from the wand that extends from beneath the seat. With the help of more than 300 TOTO employees who tested various positions, they found it was 43-degrees, what TOTO calls “the Golden Angle.” When the first WASHLET launched in 1980 in Japan, it offered warm water to cleanse, warm air to dry, and a heated seat. WASHLET sales continued to increase steadily. By 1998, WASHLET could be found throughout the country – in residential bathrooms, restaurants, hotels, department stores, supermarkets, book stores, convenience stores, parks, and train stations. In 2020, Japan’s Cabinet Office, which monitors bidet seat market penetration as a gauge of consumer confidence, reported that 80.2% of households in Japan own a bidet seat.

 Today, Tokyo’s Narita International Airport Terminal 2 is home to Gallery TOTO, a high-tech restroom where travelers can experience WASHLET and NEOREST first hand. Recently, TOTO installed a second high-tech restroom space at Narita. Experience TOTO is located in Terminal 1 and is designed to showcase WASHLET, NEOREST, and advanced restroom technology, including IoT-enabled.