Apparently a good book in the WC just doesn’t cut it anymore. Here’s the proof, according to Reuters reporter Ritsuko Ando:

Japanese toilet maker Toto Ltd, in hopes of winning more U.S. converts, launched an advertising campaign this summer to familiarize consumers with its products. … Toto is a pioneer of the washlet. The name belongs to its product line Washlet, but is used in Japan as a generic term for all high-tech toilets with bidet functions. Most washlets come with warm toilet seats, a bidet spray that extends from under the seat to jet warm water, and a dryer, as well as a remote control to adjust toilet seat and water temperatures.

Toto had us at “warm toilet seats,” but Ando reports that there is a bit of an uphill battle to convert Americans into buyers because of a hesitation to discuss scatological necessities. Still, Toto’s U.S. spokeswoman Lenora Campos says there’s a point of no return factor: “When people become washlet users, they become washlet evangelists,” she said. “Once you make that leap, you don’t want to go back.”

Campos also should win a quote-of-the-year award for this gem: “Toilet paper just distributes the problem… Whenever we clean anything else, we wash with water, right?”

Sold!