Well, after living in Japan for 3 years and six months more five years ago, this is a subject that is "close to home". We call them "squat a monsters". And I use to have nightmares about them. Seriously, when you are on the road and you stop at a 7-11 and all they have is a stinky "squat a monster", it makes you want to cringe. And by the way, even the Japanese "miss the whole". My daughter was three when we first lived in and she would not go into them. We would have to drive around to find a Western toilet. Thank God for the Handicapped!!!! Now she is a pro at using them and even prefers them. But it is funny, all of my Japanese friends have regular toilets in their houses and so do the hotels I have stayed at. The Western World is even invading the Eastern way of going to the bathroom. Japanese bathrooms also only have cold water in the faucets. But two things they do have in their Western toilets are heated toilet seats (which I love) and built in warm water bidets (which are heaven). When I move back to the states, I already told my husband, I am going to buy and bring one of their Western toilets with me. A warm toilet on a cold morning is awesome. (Of course, the Japanese don't heat their entire houses, just one room. And the bathrooms are freezing, but that's another story.) Aloha