Japanese toilet has interesting system to save water; 'clever idea,' say netizens

As the world continues to grapple with global warming, the focus today is to create sustainable resources. The need to conserve resources has given rise to unique solutions cropping up. You must have heard of smog vacuum cleaner, green building initiative, etc. With an aim to accelerate sustainability, this Japanese toilet design has become a new internet sensation. Japan has always been at the forefront of creativity and architecture and this Japanese toilet is constructed to save water.

Japanese toilet that saves millions of litres of water

A Twitter page that goes by @fasc1nate, or Fascinating shared a picture of the Japanese Toilet. The picture shows a toilet with a sink attached to it. The user may wash their hands in the sink and use the same dirty water to flush the toilet. The caption to the post read: "On many Japanese toilets, the hand wash sink is attached so that you can wash your hands and reuse the water for the next flush. Japan saves millions of liters of water every year doing this." 

Ever since the page posted this, the post has garnered over 112.6K likes, 1,379 Quote Tweets and over 12.3K Retweets. In the comments section, numerous users praised this design. A user shared Japan's innovative spirit to save water. The comment read: "Japan uses about 80 trillion litres of water per year. If we assume OP's "millions of litres per year" is accurate and round up to 10 million, then this would save 0.00001% of Japan's water usage. Most of their usage (as everywhere) is agriculture." Another user wrote: "Very clever!", and "They also save the material for an extra wash sink. I thought this design should be used globally".

Few others pointed out that the toilet might be uncomfortable. The comments read: "I had one of these when I lived in Japan, except there was no space for soap, so it functioned mostly as a small, decorative fountain." Another comment read: "That miniscule "sink" is totally inadequate to wash your hands. Water will go everywhere" and that "Practical design can be improved."