Public toilet seat fears in Japan

iShare definitely has some sort of toilet obsession, with this time taking a look at public toilet seat issues.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 13th of July 2009 568 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.4% of the sample were male, 35.7% in their twenties, 31.3% in their thirties, and 32.9% in their forties.

I don’t like using public toilets, but more from the point of view of not being being able to relax. I think I’ve only once used the paper sheet covers, but only just because I wanted to see what they actually were, rather than any worry about hygene. Wifey, on the other hand, prefers Western toilets and always carries seat cleaning sheets with her whenever she goes out.

Previous toilet-related surveys from iShare have included toilet noises, water-squirting toilets, and mobile phones in the toilet.

Research results

Q1: Do you feel reluctance to sitting on Western-style public toilets? (Sample size=568)

	All	Male N=326	Female N=242
Will absolutely never use Western-style public toilets	2.6%	3.4%	1.7%
Feel very reluctant (to SQ1, SQ2, SQ3)	20.2%	19.6%	21.1%
Feel a little reluctant (to SQ1, SQ2, SQ3)	57.9%	57.1%	59.1%
Don’t feel any reluctance (to SQ2, SQ3)	19.2%	19.9%	18.2%

Q1SQ1: If there are both Western and Japanese public toilets available, which do you use? (Sample size=444)

	All	Male N=250	Female N=194
Western (sit)	61.3%	65.2%	56.2%
Japanese (squat)	38.7%	34.8%	43.8%

Q1SQ2: If there are toilet seat paper covers for Western-style toilets, do you use them? (Sample size=553)

	All	Male N=315	Female N=238
Yes	71.4%	73.3%	68.9%
No	28.6%	26.7%	31.1%

Q1SQ3: If there are toilet seat wipes or sprays for Western-style toilets, do you use them? (Sample size=553)

	All	Male N=315	Female N=238
Yes	75.2%	78.4%	71.0%
No	24.8%	21.6%	29.0%

Q2: Have you ever seen a cleaner of the opposite sex in a public toilet? (Sample size=568)

	All	Male N=326	Female N=242
Yes (to SQ1)	67.1%	86.5%	40.9%
No	32.9%	13.5%	59.1%

Q2SQ1: Do you feel opposition to cleaners of the opposite sex in public toilets? (Sample size=381)

	All	Male N=282	Female N=99
Yes	41.2%	34.4%	60.6%
No	58.8%	65.6%	39.4%