Chinese People Hate It That Their Expensive Japanese Toilet Seats Are Made In China
The irony stinks in this week's Random Wednesday.
By Mei Mei Chu — 04 Mar 2015, 06:12 PM
The good people of China have been flying to Japan to buy toilet seats. Yes, you read it right, toilet seats.
A large number of Chinese tourists rushed to Japan to buy toilet seats during this past Spring Festival holiday. The item is popular among Chinese consumers because they are equipped with a variety of auxiliary functions such as heating and sanitizing.
asiaone.com
Apparently, Japan produces some of the finest toilet seats in the market, complete with fancy single-stream sprays bidet systems.
Don't play play, the Wall Street Journal says these bidet toilet seats are masterpieces of Japanese creativity and consideration, featuring warm water options, heated seats and the ability to kill germs and unwanted odors.
It is so prized amongst the Chinese that Chinese tour groups have been seen cleaning out all the stock in Japanese stores
News segments on the shopping frenzy shown on Chinese state television showed a Japanese store manager bemused by herds of Chinese tour groups who take just one afternoon to clean out, so to speak, his entire store.
They were even seen fighting over it in duty-free stores. Mind you, these Japanese toilet seats are not cheap at 2,000 yuan (RM1,163) a pop.
So imagine their faces when they find out that these fancy toilet seats that they had bought in Japan was actually made in China
Cue anger, shock, and angry Chinese complaints
One blogger penned a short poem inspired by the discovery: “The flower blossoms inside the wall but is fragrant outside, national products are made in China but looted overseas…the reasons behind this are worth considering.” (墙内开花墙外香，国货国外被抢光，出口内销不一样，此中原由费思量.)
qz.com
One guy flew all the way to Osaka to buy a Panasonic toilet lid. That precious cover was actually manufactured in his hometown of Hangzhou.
One of these visitors, a man from Hangzhou with the surname Wang, posted on Weibo that he was surprised to discover that Panasonic toilet lids on sale in Osaka were made near his hometown, in Hangzhou’s manufacturing district of Xiasha. He told Sina News, “I can’t believe I came this far to buy something manufactured on my doorstep. Doesn’t that just make me a porter?”
qz.com
That's not even the most ironic part of this story yet. As it turns out, these Japanese toilet seats are in fact sold in China, at a cheaper price, with even better functions.
One model sells for 2980 yuan ($475) in China but about 59,000 yen ($492) in Japan, according to Li. The Chinese version even comes with an extra moisture protection function that the Japanese model doesn’t.
qz.com
Perhaps the thought of owning foreign goods help some people sleep better at night
