40% of Japanese men sit down to pee, survey shows
About 40 percent of adult Japanese men sit on the toilet to urinate -- a staggering figure almost three times the number recorded in 1999 -- according to a survey by Western-style toilet manufacturer Matsushita Electric Works Ltd.
The survey of 518 men and an identical number of women whose ages ranged from their 30s to 50s showed that the younger the man, the more likely he is to sit down while peeing instead of the traditional method of standing up.
The 40 percent of men who sit while urinating is almost three times more than the 15 percent of men who did so when the company first started surveying toilet habits in 1999.
"Women hate it when urine sprays, so there appears to be an increasing number who are asking men to sit down on the toilet when they have to go," a Matsushita Electric Works spokesman said.
Matsushita Electric Works noticed the increasing tendency for Japanese men to sit on the toilet while urinating and started three years ago to accommodate the trend in such ways as designing toilet seats with larger holes.
The survey showed that 46 percent of men in their 30s sat while weeing, 38 percent of men in their 40s did so and 37 percent of men in their 50s also followed the trend. Matsushita believes mothers getting their young children to sit on the toilet when they urinate are also getting their partners to adopt the same practice.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071213p2a00m0na008000c.html
