More Japanese men opt to pee sitting on the toilet

It’s the result of a poll by a toiletries manufacturer company

In June, in Japan, a poll found that over 60% of men prefer to sit down on the toilet rather than stand for peeing but almost half of them switched to sitting permanently, while over a quarter of men in their 20s said they have always been “sitters”.

The trend, maybe, is a result of coming to the conclusion that sitting on the bowl while urinating allows a more accurate aim and causes less mess, as well as avoiding splashes.

The online survey launched by the Japanese toiletries manufacturer Lion Corp. collected answers from 1,500 men aged from 20 to 60 and found that a total of 60.9% of men prefer to sit. Nevertheless, the survey didn’t consider situations where urinals were available.

However, 49% of the men who prefer to sit said they had switched from standing to sitting, while 11.9% of the total said they are “native” sitters but only 2.7% of the latter are men in their 60s, compared with 25.7% who are young adults in their 20s.

The most common reason for sitting was witnessing the mess they made, with 37.3% saying they had seen the ill effects of urine splashes with their own eyes.

Other reasons include consideration for others who clean the toilet (27.9%); because they began cleaning the toilet themselves (19.3%); or because someone close to them had convinced them that their urine spray, mainly unseen to the naked eye, is a real issue (16.6%).

A Lion experiment using ultraviolet light revealed that splashes occurred on the inside rims of toilets and under seats, even when a person sits to urinate, although peeing standing up results in splashes outside the toilet involving sprinkles on the floor or walls.

Tomoyuki Isowa, a 53-year-old business owner in Nagakute, in central Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, recently began sitting after years of standing. The change came after his son’s request when he visited his home, but he was also persuaded by TV programs about men’s bad urination habits.

“I was also being considerate of my wife, who always does the cleaning. And I learned that sitting down while I relieve myself allows me to relax more than standing,” Isowa said.

Although advocates of “tachi-shon,” a wordplay in Japanese from the combination of “tachi” (stand) and “shonben” (urine), argue that “suwari-shon” (sit to pee) restricts urine flow, Isowa said he solves this by using toilet paper to make sure he wipes away any stubborn droplets after he is done.

But there’s more, since 2015, Aichi-based retail company Tech Tech has been selling illustrative stickers that instruct men to sit down when urinating. In addition to family households and restaurants, Tech Tech says it receives orders from men who live alone.

Some more inventive stickers proclaim that men who are popular with women are toilet sitters because they protect ladies from their inaccuracy.

Marketing analyst Yohei Harada says increased awareness of good hygiene practices among parents influences boys from an early age, such that they become more inclined to sit down when they pee as they grow into adulthood.

“The younger generation has a good relationship with their parents, so they tend to listen if they are told to keep a clean toilet,” Harada said.

“It’s probably true that for young people who don’t want to spend a moment away from their smartphones, sitting down on a toilet seat and being able to handle their phones easily is a bonus,” he said.

Japanese culture is famous for being more collectivist, focusing more on their community than on single members, unlike in individualist countries. This could be a possible reason for their attention on their own mess, in this case in a toilet, because they care about the next person who will use the bathroom. Therefore, they tend to identify themselves with others, so they don’t do what they don’t want to suffer. In the West, instead, people are more self-centered, so they tend to use the toilet on their own without caring about others. In addition, sitting on the bowl, especially in public toilets, is considered uncomfortable and unhygienic. Moreover, most men consider sitting for peeing, a woman thing, but this kind of attitude is fading.

Source english.kyodonews.net