STUDDED TOILET

First,Japan gave the world high-tech toilets. Now a crystal toilet-studded with more than 72000 pieces of Swarovski cut crystal and valued at over $100000. Toilet manufacturer INAX teamed up with the Austrian jeweller to create the ornate fixture,which is on display in a showroom in the posh Ginza shopping district,an effort to draw more customers in a year fraught with economic gloom and natural disaster. In a nod to traditional belief,the sparkling toilet was created to please the "God of toilets",said Kazuo Sumimiya,Director of the showroom for the Lixil Interior Fixture company of which INAX is a part."In japan we believe a deity exists in the toilet.That's why keeping toilet clean and taking good care of it have been a Japanese custom since long ago," he added.