Word: midtown
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...keeps his collection of Porsches (he won't say how many, though it's assumed there are more than 30) in a private garage in Manhattan. He hits the gym regularly, and every day when he's in the city he walks 25 blocks through Central Park to his midtown office-a spacious aerie with sweeping views of the skyline-where he works on his stand-up act. The office is equipped with a high-tech videoconferencing system called Halo so he can communicate with the directors and animators of Bee Movie...
Wandering by Japanese ladies pushing their Italian greyhounds in doggie strollers through the new Tokyo Midtown shopping complex on a recent weekend, I sensed that my morning coffee had worked its way through my system. A detour was required to the mall's spotless public bathroom, where the walls were inlaid with wood and the lighting tastefully muted...
...Japanese bathrooms are the apotheosis of the nation's fascination with both cleanliness and high-tech gadgetry. The toilet at Tokyo Midtown may have been a rather basic model of what is called a "washlet," but its options included a warmed seat, bidet cleansing, spray cleansing (a rather different angle and spray from the bidet option), a "powerful deodorizer" and, of course, the "flushing sound" with adjustable volume. The last function is also ecologically friendly. Before the advent of the artificial running-water noise, many Japanese would camouflage the sound of their ablutions by flushing, thereby wasting tons of water...
...More than 60% of Japanese households are now equipped with washlets, and the unit available in the public bathrooms of the Tokyo Midtown pales in comparison to those that grace many Japanese homes and hotels. For just $5,000, Japan's largest toilet maker, Toto, offers the deluxe Neorest 600. It boasts, among other functions, five cleansing modes (front, rear, pulsating, oscillating and soft), a lid that automatically opens and closes, an air purifier, a massage option, an air-drier with adjustable temperature settings and an automatic flush. Most functions can be operated by a wireless remote control linked...
...Despite the proliferation of sophisticated washlets, there are still plenty of old-fashioned squat toilets in Japan. This makes any trip to a Tokyo bathroom an exercise in extremes, either a thigh-challenging balancing act or a luxurious pampering. Back at Tokyo Midtown, as I watched the dogs cruise by in their custom strollers, I wondered if Japan's vaunted toilet-makers have considered creating a pet-friendly washlet. After all, at least one firm is busy trying to develop commodes that can do everything from test for pregnancy to check the glucose levels of diabetics. A high-tech...