Wayward Aiming Japanese Men Take a Seat in Smallest Room

The Japanese male's inability to aim straight is obliging record numbers of them to sit rather than stand during brief visits to the smallest room in the house, a survey showed today.

The poll of married couples by Matsushita Electric Works revealed that 49% of men urinate while sitting down following complaints from their wives about their poor sense of direction, more than treble the number of eight years ago.

Younger men were the most willing to change their habits, according to the survey of 518 couples aged 30-50.

"The chances of spraying the seat are much higher when you stand up, and many women hate cleaning up the mess," a Matsushita spokeswoman said.

"Many of the women we surveyed said they had asked their husbands to sit down, even when they urinate, and it looks like the message has got through."

When the firm, which makes Western-style toilets, conducted its first survey of bathroom habits in 1999, only 15% of men said they sat down to pee. By 2004 that figure had doubled to 30%.

The company now produces bigger toilets designed to ensure maximum comfort for men who sit.

Toilet etiquette is a serious topic in Japan, where new homes are routinely fitted with "washlet" toilets complete with heated seats and bidets.

In some women's public lavatories, the toilets produce loud flushing sounds on demand to cover up the embarrassing noises that can accompany the call of nature.

But the trend towards sitting may be about more than cleanliness. One of the most popular short poems of this year was a salary man's bittersweet paean to the modern Japanese WC: The only warmth in my life is the toilet seat.