I haven't quite finished writing the previous entry, but this deserves its own brief note. Actually, most of my longer entries are generally left unfinished. Perhaphs, I should just stick to shorter ones. Who knows? maybe one day I'll return and finish them.
I finally understand why heated toilet seats are fairly common on newer Japanese toilets! In Canada, I've used heated toilets a few times and was somewhat befuddled by their existence. All the houses and buildings I've been in in Canada aside from barns and such have central heating and even when your monther's trying to save energy, the indoor temperature is rarely less than 18°C or so. Add the heated toilet seat to that, and it just seems like a useless extravagence for those who enjoy a warm buttocks.
However, for one reason or another, central heating simply does not exist in Japan outside of larger public buildings. This means that in the winter unless you have the heater in your room cranked up to 25°C or 26°C, it may be 14°C or 10°C in your washroom. (Apparently insulation in walls hasn't caught on either.) Sitting down on a ten degree porcelain chair is, well, rather unpleasant! Alas, all that said, my apartment doesn't have heated toilet seats . . . and hence this realisation.