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A comment on Japanese toilet industry agrees to standardize complex bidet controls. Parent comment

Re:Japanese toilet industry agrees to standardize complex bi... by kalleboo on Thursday January 19, 2017 @06:52AM (#13435053)
> Also, to be truthful, a lot of foreigners wouldn't know what the svatiskas on maps point to.

Exactly. This is the main reason for the change. The changes were based on surveys where they asked foreigners "if you saw this symbol on a map, what do you think it would mean?". Not "is this offensive?" You can find a PDF of the survey results online, it also included stuff like hotel symbols which foreigners thought meant hospital or helipad.

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Re:Japanese toilet industry agrees to standardize complex bi... by DashRattlesnake on Thursday January 19, 2017 @10:36AM (#13436546)
Honestly, one of the things I liked about visiting Japan was that I had to adjust my preconceptions a little to accommodate a developed culture with a non-western foundation. Changing things to adapt to western preconceptions takes that away a little bit.
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Re:Japanese toilet industry agrees to standardize complex bi... by dyim on Thursday January 19, 2017 @12:11PM (#13437359)
These seem like little UX things :) . It'd be tough to imagine changing their core cultural tenets in order to accommodate tourists.
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Re:Japanese toilet industry agrees to standardize complex bi... by DashRattlesnake on Thursday January 19, 2017 @12:37PM (#13437591)
But in this case, that little UX thing forces the understanding that a symbol that is taboo and has an offensive meaning in your home country is understood totally differently in Japan.
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Re:Japanese toilet industry agrees to standardize complex bi... by 794CD01 on Thursday January 19, 2017 @01:03PM (#13437854)
That means it's bad UX. "Make me think" is a totally different book.
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