Japanese Toilet (South Park)

Plot

After the Marsh family's powder room toilet breaks, Sharon Marsh tells her husband Randy to buy a replacement. Though reluctant to give up "Ol' Blue," Randy becomes interested in a Japanese toilet at Home Depot. Sharon is upset by the $10,000 price but also becomes captivated by it. Randy brags to neighbors, leading to his son Stan being mocked at school.

Randy tells Stan their family is like the Kennedy family of South Park and that he is trying to open people's eyes, but Stan insists he is just showing off. Randy's proctologist, Dr. Sheltair, visits to check on Randy's hemorrhoids. When Randy says he no longer has them because of the toilet's cleanliness, Sheltair is angered that the reduced work will prevent his Tuscan vacation. Stan's classmate Jimmy Valmer notes that 70% of the world does not use toilet paper, while Americans use it excessively, straining resources.

Jimmy says Americans do not want to change their toilets and never will. Randy gives a speech at city hall praising Japanese toilets and saying the public no longer needs toilet paper, but an unknown assassin shoots him, leaving him in a coma. Sheltair takes hostages at Home Depot, claiming he did not shoot Randy and fears being silenced like the student who wrote an exposé about toilets two years ago. Sheltair shoots himself.

Stan confronts Jimmy, realizing he was that student. Jimmy confesses that after he wrote a story about toilets for the school newspaper, toilet paper corporations silenced him. Stan plans a press conference to reveal this, but Randy, cowed by the assassination attempt, appears and tells the public that toilet paper is a great product and Japanese toilets are unnecessary. He apologizes, removes the Japanese toilet, restores Ol' Blue, and resolves not to take common items for granted.

Reception

John Schwarz of Bubbleblabber rated the episode a 9 out of 10, saying the joke is not about toilets themselves but about the series taking aim at a multi-billion dollar industry and making viewers think. Max Nocerino of The Future of the Force gave the episode a "Solid A!" and wrote that South Park has become a clear voice in American BS, tackling issues people do not think about. Cathal Gunning of Screen Rant noted that Jimmy's diatribe about the environmental damage of toilet paper shows the series still has surprises in its twenty-sixth year, and that despite mocking many subjects, South Park is serious about the cost of Americans using toilet paper on the environment.