Chinese tourist steals high- tech toilet seat in Japan, offers to resign

A tourist from Taizhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province offered to resign from the employer on Thursday after the couple stole a toilet seat at a Japanese hotel, sparking an uproar on Chinese social media.

Experts said Japanese high- tech innovations have increasingly created Chinese demand for quality products, and could become a new growth area in the Chinese economy.

The couple, surnamed Li and Chen, swiped a high- tech toilet seat which they had found under their bed at a Nagoya hotel on Monday, the Ningbo Daily reported Wednesday. The couple confessed after the hotel manger called their tourist guide the next day, and they returned the fixture as requested.

The Tourism Bureau of Ningbo confirmed the incident on Wednesday.

After returning home, one of the couple reportedly resigned, local news portal zjol.com reported Thursday.

Many Net users criticized the couple for tarnishing the Chinese people’s image, and said they felt embarrassed over the couple’s behavior.

“It shows Chinese obsession for fine Japanese products,” Hu Xingdou, an economist at the Beijing Institute of Technology, told the Global Times.

Wu Xiaobo, a renowned financial writer, said in an article for the China Business Network that some Chinese tourists to Japan bought as many as five toilet seats without checking the price.

“Catering to higher consumer tastes will become a growth area of China’s economy,” Lian Ping, chief economist at Bank of Communications, told the Global Times.

“Chinese companies should be mind- ful of changes in consumer tastes, which requires them to invest in product innovation,” said Lian, noting that China faces limited advanced products, which has fueled greater overseas spending.

According to a 2015 People’s Daily report, Chinese shoppers flooded stores in Japan during the Chinese New Year holidays and purchased all electronic toilet seats in stock.

Reports said a typical Japan- made toilet seat features 14 different functions, including spray washing, blow drying, and auto- deodorization. The seats are compatible with all types of toilets.