Japan’s taking its reputation for advanced loo technology to the next level by installing special smartphone toilet paper next to the regular one in its restrooms. The rolls can be used to disinfect your handset while you’re doing your business.
The unique toilet paper has been installed at the Narita International Airport in Tokyo and are set to be in place until March next year. The smartphone-specific roll is the brainchild of Japanese telecom operator NTT Docomo. It’s justifying the move with claims that the screen of a device has five times the amount of germs as compared to a toilet seat.
NTT Docomo’s even gone as far as to post a video explaining how to correctly use restrooms in Japan and its own specific smartphone toilet paper. The product itself functions as a sort of advertisement for the brand.
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It features a ‘Welcome To Japan’ message alongside instructions on how to wipe your smartphone, connect to NTT Docomo’s public Wi-Fi network, and install a travel guide app with voice translation called jspeak. The cleaning rolls are clearly targeting tourists with the promotional spiel, even stating that the paper is meant to clean displays so visitors can enjoy their travel hygienically.
Useful or not, NTT Docomo’s move has gone viral on social media and prompted a wide range of reactions from approval to incredulity. Japan’s no stranger to vacationers being in awe of its high-tech public loos, with a large number of them featuring various buttons to control the bidet function or heat the toilet seat.