According to the good folks at Tech in Asia, China’s State Council (somewhat akin to the cabinet in the US government) has called on Chinese tech firms to focus on making better air purifiers, better rice cookers, and better smart toilet seats.
Smart toilet seats? Really?
Why, you may be wondering, is the Chinese government so concerned about Chinese companies producing high quality smart toilet seats? The author the piece suggests that it’s about nationalism:
Why smart toilet seat development is a national priority is a mystery.
I do have a theory, though: Japan. You may remember that earlier this year during China’s yearly legislative session, rice cookers rather unexpectedly became a point of discussion and a black mark on China’s tech industry: why were Japanese firms still producing better rice cookers than Chinese firms? Several high-profile tech CEOs got in on the action, and Xiaomi released its own rice cooker a month or so later.
Apparently, Japan dominates the smart toilet seat market in a similar way. On Taobao, for example, the top-selling smart toilet seats are mostly Japanese, and many are marketed with an emphasis on their Japanese or otherwise foreign origin. I can’t say whether it’s true as I’ve never personally tried any brand of smart toilet seat – I like my toilets dumb, thank you very much – but Chinese consumers apparently believe that Japan simply makes a better toilet seat than China. This has been an issue of contention for nationalists for over a year already, and it seems the State Council may be firing it up again.
Can’t continue to let the Japanese be ahead, now, can we?
Most of the time when traveling in China, I would have been deliriously happy with simply HAVING a toilet seat — any kind of toilet seat! Dirty? Cracked? Whatever — just give me something to sit on, thank you very much.
Oh, and in case you had no idea before this that smart toilet seats are a thing, check out this list of 9 futuristic toilet seats highlighted over at Gadget Review.
Image credit: Tech in Asia
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