Why a Japanese Toilet Maker Belongs in the AI Supply Chain
Episode Transcript

The company behind Japan’s heated toilets also makes precision ceramics used in semiconductor manufacturing. TOTO’s role in that supply chain sent Grace Sharkey and me down a very unexpected rabbit hole.

Fresh from my trip to Japan, I compare notes with Grace about what we noticed there. We talk about the care behind everyday products, the food we still think about, and the maritime details at Tokyo DisneySea. This standalone Freight Friends segment connects an unusual manufacturing story with the places we experienced firsthand.

In this segment:
• How TOTO’s precision ceramics support chipmaking
• Japan through a honeymoon and a student exchange
• Food, everyday design and Tokyo DisneySea’s maritime world

Listen to the full Freight Friends conversation:
https://everythingislogistics.com/freight-friends-edi-fees-ai-hype-vs-reality-and-totos-ceramics-that-secretly-power-chip-manufacturing/

Links mentioned:
TOTO’s electrostatic chucks: https://jp.toto.com/en/products/ceramics/elewafer/

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Show Transcript

See full episode transcriptTranscript is autogenerated by AI

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Let's move into our next segment. And that's um a hidden supply chain. Speaking of like hidden aspects of logistics and supply chain, um, but I just got back from a trip to Japan and Blythe Milligan here, Grace Sharkey, and uh this is everything is logistics presented by SPI Logistics. And I wanted to talk about this story because everyone's talking about AI, everyone's talking about, you know, sort of the uh the chip environment, uh, and you know, who the chips shortage and how chips are in AI chips are in everything. And there's one company in Japan that is famous for heated toilets, and they're now a critical link in the AI chip supply chain. This is not a metaphor, it's the same company, the same kilns used to make their ceramics is the same ceramic craft that's used to or lithography, I think machine is is the way it's it's phrased. Um, but at the company is called Toto, and I want to bring up really quick the best toilet ever.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Did you have some? Did you use a Toto?

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Uh listen, my obsession now with bidets, like I have a you know the Amazon like attachment bidet to the toilet, and but it's not it's first of all, what changed my brain chemistry over in Japan is the fact that the toilet seat always stays warm.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Love that.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

There's also another aspect of the bidets in Japan that they have um privacy music. So if you're in a public restroom and you don't want to hear other noises from other people, or maybe you're doing something and you don't want other people to hear your noises, you can turn on the no the privacy music. And it's like nature, like water running, you know, birds chirping, you know, things like that. And you can turn the volume all the way up to where nobody else can hear what you're doing, or it's just you know, kind of it kind of drowns out the the gross noises that go on in a public restroom. Um, so that blew my mind. Um, I would say the warm toilet seat, because I always like to get up in the middle of the night to go pee. This is probably TMI, but whatever. Um, I always get up in the middle of the night once to go pee. And when I was doing that in Japan, because it takes you forever for I don't know that your body ever actually adjusts to that kind of time difference, but that was such a pleasant experience to be able to sit down on a warm toilet seat.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

You don't even live in the cold. Like, imagine can you imagine my winters?

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Oh my god. And the the warm water that instantly comes from it, anyways. Um, so yeah, the the Japan is uh far and away the best toilet maker in the world, but because they are so good at making ceramics, there are now um a key component or a key part of the AI chip manufacturing. Um, so I'm gonna play this video from Nick Conley, and hopefully you guys can hear the audio from it. Hold on.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Somebody that makes Japan's most famous smart toilet is secretly one of the most critical suppliers in AI chip manufacturing, and almost nobody knows it. Meet Todo. Founded in 1917, the company spent decades perfecting the ceramics inside their watchlet toilets. That same ceramic expertise turned out to be exactly what the semiconductor industry needed. Since the 1980s, Toto has been manufacturing electrostatic chucks, precision ceramic components that hold silicon wafers perfectly still while microscopic circuits get carved into them at extremely low temperatures during a process called cryogenic etching. One slip and the chip is destroyed. And that is where every other material had failed. Toto's ceramics stay stable under temperatures and thermal stress that would cause other materials to warp or crack, making them the dominant supplier for the tools that manufacture 3D NAND memory chips, the same chips powering AI data centers worldwide. Here's where it gets insane that ceramics business now generates over 40% of Toto's entire operating profit. UK investment firm Pallister Capital just took a major stake and called Toto the most undervalued and overlooked AI memory beneficiary in the world. The stock is already up nearly 40% in 2026. But the craziest part, the market still sees a toilet company. The chips inside every AI system you have ever used were built using parts made by the same company that perfected the heated toilet seat. If you want to stay updated with the latest tech news, follow incredible, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:07

I that I would have never had any idea that that a toilet maker from Japan would have play a key role in our AI chip manufacturing. Um, but yeah, it it it definitely does. And Chris, you used to live in Japan. So did you did you have were were the the toilets like this when you lived there?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

So I don't okay, so yes, they weren't all totos. I'll say that. So I when I lived there, I actually lived, which is like perfect because it's it was about the same as my family, but I lived in a with a more middle class family, where a couple of my other students, like a couple of uh the United States students that came with me, were definitely a little bit more upper class. Um, but we definitely did have that type of toilet, like it definitely had a heated seat. That's like very norm. I'm trying to remember in school if we had those. I don't think we what were you there for?

SPEAKER_02 6:10

It was just like an exchange program.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, I was there for an exchange program.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

So, how old were you? Uh seventh grade. Oh, seventh. Oh, wow. I thought you were about to say 17. So seventh grade. So you lived over there for what a year?

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Yeah, if you look at your phone, I sent you some pics last night too.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

I I did see those photos.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

I didn't live there. No, I didn't live there for a year, it was about a month. Um and then they came and lived with us for the same amount of time. Oh, interesting. So it was like really cool. Oh, yeah. My mother, let me tell you, yeah. This she she she would like yell things. I'm like, she's not deaf, she just doesn't speak anything. Like, but my to to my mom's credit, she ended actually doing, she ended up becoming a leader in the program. So I went, I did it for one year, but she did it for four years in a row. Um, so she's been in Japan way more than me. But uh yeah, so uh like we would go there so for a whole like year, almost two years, we'd write to each other. So our jet we take Japanese and then we'd write letters back and forth to each other, and then um we spent like a basic basically a whole month going to school there. Um, and then they would come. They came like I think four or five months later and came to school here. Um and actually, unfortunately, I don't even know if they come over here anymore because they did not like a lot of like the they're big against guns. Um, so during it was right around like COVID and stuff, like they just uh because of some of the big shootings, they stopped letting their kids come over. I think this past year they finally turned it back on. Um, but it was awesome because we like full on went to school with them, um, took Japanese classes. I'll say I was awesome at math because you know what? Numbers are the same everywhere. Um but it was really interesting too because I like the one thing I take out of it that I'm like, wow, it'd be we have a lot more people, so be a lot more expensive. But like in their schools, I I first off their overall school situation, I think is 10 times better. By the time you get into high school, you have to kind of figure out what trade or like what you want to do, and then you go to a high school for like that thing. Like you actually have to apply to high schools in in Japan, you don't just like go to the one in your district, um, which I think is really smart. Um and but also you like you go the dentist comes once a month, a doctor comes once a month because there was like a day where like we'd even like we basically had to go to like our own class because they were all like in line to see the dentist. Um we had like wood shop, we had like some classes like we didn't really have here, so that was really cool. But yeah, like we straight up just like lived at their house, you know, had breakfast, lunch, dinner there. Um, like on the weekends as a group, we would go to like Kyoto, um, or like some because this was in the Shiga Prefecture, so I think it's in the prefecture south of where you were.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Um, but it's almost like a set, like not a subdivision, but like a suburb, from Brooklyn to New York, kind of no.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Oh well, I guess so with how big Japan is. A prefecture is like a state, so like we're like the state underneath you. Um, and actually, my the town, it used to be Konancho, but it got bigger, so now it's like Kokashi, I think. Like instead of a town, it's a city. Um, and so it's it's closer to Q uh me trying to use my hand as a map. Hand's kind of like this. Like Tokyo's more north than we were, but uh no, it was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

And you really have to like, you know, I mean, I we had chaperon, so like in terms of the house, it was just like it was a it was a really great learning experience to like be on your own, you know, and like know that you could like survive without your parents at seven in seventh grade, you know, like um well we even saw like little kids in school uniform like walking to school and come to find out, you know, they just learn from you know, like very young ages, like under five years old, of you know, how to you know be self-sustainable and how to walk yourself to school and they don't really have to worry about you know crime or anything like that. Um, because it's just you know, it's it just it's unfathomable for you know something to happen to, I guess, a child. Um you know, in in I I don't know how many families would allow their kids to you know walk a few miles to school, but it it seemed to happen there. Not maybe not a few miles, but no the closest school.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Especially in the United States now, it's like my parents live across from school at three o'clock. There's more cars than I've ever seen. These kids they're not even allowed to like cross the street in a suburb without like an adult. It's crazy. Safe girl, yeah. And and we had to you we had to wear the uniforms too. It was it was really fun. Um and but what I think was like was super cool about was just like well, I I you know I'm interested from your perspective too, because I I remember being clearly a kid and being like, oh my god, I'm not gonna have any idea what these people are saying. Like, I was okay at Japanese, but like I can read it, and still today I can read it 10 times better than I could say it. Um but then I like got there and I was like, okay, as long as I know like Doka, like I know like where, like, where, when, and why, so you know, like where are you taking me basically? I can figure it out. And uh it's just like the language barrier wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had maybe expected it to be at that age. Um and the food is oh my god, the food is fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

The sushi and wagu was. I mean, we stayed re uh next to the Tejuski. I'm probably mispronouncing that uh fish market. And it was one of these fish markets that uh closes most of the shops start closing down at around noon, so you got to get there early. Um, but you can pay four bucks and you know get the best steak that you've had. You can get a giant crab leg um for 20 bucks. You can, you know, get this sushi platter, you know, with like uh this fatty bluefin tuna that's the best sushi you've ever had in your life, and you can for you know, half hour.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

That's what I wanted to ask you because until honestly, probably like the last couple years, and I mind you, I went in seventh grade. I the sushi American sushi is so like I don't know how to explain it, but I just remember like for the longest, I was like, none of this tastes good. Like it was just Japanese sushi was so good and so fresh, and like I don't know how to explain, maybe not just like soaked in spicy mayo and eel sauce that like it's was more edible, but it took me so long to like eat American sushi like on a regular basis, let alone like at all, because it was like just so fresh, like the fast food was delicious.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Yeah, we had McDonald's while we were there too, just to taste it. You could actually see because I'm I have grown up on McDonald's, I loved McDonald's, but the last couple of years uh we've gotten it maybe once or twice, and it's just been gross. Like the chicken nuggets are just I don't know what they're putting in them or what they're not putting in them. It just hasn't been a good, I always get a McDouble, and because I love the little onions on a McDouble. I love a McDouble, but the patties are like so thin now, like paper thin, where you can barely see it. You eat a McDouble in Japan, and you're actually getting a quality burger over there, and it's like these people have just been, you know, just pushing it and pushing it just to see how much they can charge us, how much they can do the shrinkflation. And they're I think that's finally like speaking of we we talked about this earlier, you know, just overextending yourself and seeing how much you can just sort of you know pull from the American consumer. And McDonald's is a perfect example of that of how much can they charge you, and then how much can they decrease the quality of their products? And it's uh I think that it's definitely biting them in the ass.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

They come back like twice a year with like, hey, we have a new product, and they just threw like barbecue sauce and like like um fried onions on something, the fillet of fish or the mcrib.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

And it's like, I if you can't get thank god that they've never done anything to the fries, and the fries tasted the same, I will say that. But uh, Japan had the spicy chicken nuggets, the spicy chicken nuggets were incredible. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Don't they like a shrimp?

SPEAKER_02 15:17

I saw it, but I know I I we were also like the thing with Japan is that we wanted to eat so much that we didn't even have like an omakase experience. For for folks who don't know, an omakase experience is like where it's like a 12-course meal that you go to a really nice restaurant um and and you get that full big meal. We were eating so much, but we weren't eating a lot. Um, so when we did like, okay, we're gonna spare a little bit of like stomach room for McDonald's. Um, we did we we split fries, one order of chicken nuggets, and one McDouble. And it was incredible. I should have taken a photo of the actual like beef patties because I was shocked that they you could actually view them and you could actually view each one because it just hasn't happened, you know, here in in the States in in quite a while, to the point where I'm like, I don't even want to eat this. Like it's not, it's not even a guilty pleasure anymore because it just doesn't, it's not pleasurable to eat it. Um so I think that they you know that to your point, like the food is just so fresh and just the level of ingredients. I will say something that was slightly disappointing was some of like the strawberry snacks. I thought the strawberry would be on point in Japan, especially from like um like a 7-Eleven. Like I loved their egg salad sandwich. I'm actually going to um the grocery store tonight so I can try to replicate like the egg salad sandwich that I got from there, which is phenomenal. Um, but uh the like the strawberry donut and things like that. I think my American taste buds just weren't there yet. Cause I'm like, I feel like it needs some red dye for it. Like it needs something, it doesn't taste sweet enough. Um, so that would be my only like mild complaint. But then on the flip side, I don't know if you had like the fluffy pancakes while you were there. No chef's kiss, like all worth all the hype.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

I can make I know how to make now, and I I wouldn't do it on camera because it's not gonna be like great clean. You know, you can get like the egg where they like cut the egg and then it like unflips. Yeah, I can like do that now, like that. I think is fun. Um, the one other thing, too. I wanted to ask. Well, one, I saw you discovered how good the air food can be. Um, maybe that was your post. Did you post uh flying over there getting food on the plane?

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Oh my god, Japan Airlines, which shout out to them. They gave me a little model plane, the best airline I've ever flown. Yeah, so nice, hospitable. I mean, just I think we got four meals on that flight. Like it is good food, yeah. Yeah, it was damn good food. We actually had very good food on most of our flights because, especially that area of the world and not just um the Japan Airlines, even though we flew like you know, Air India, Air Canada, things like that, I would not put them at the same level as Japan Airlines, but their food was still phenomenal because it was like curry everything, and it was like eggs, but you're gonna have curry sauce on it, and here's some roamy bread, like it's it's curry everything, um, which I loved. But if you if you're like my cousin who was over in Sri Lanka with us as well for a wedding, um, because we did Japan and then we did went to Sri Lanka um for a wedding. My cousin does not do seafood and she does not do uh spicy food. So she was um poor girl Sri Lanka. Yeah, you know, they're an island off the southeast coast of India, and so uh there it's a lot of seafood and it's a lot of curries. So she was she was struggling a bit.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

That and then the other thing too is the vending machines. Um that situation's still happening, but you can just you can get in what's it was like gambling, uh not just from like a food perspective. Booze, you can get I mean, I love the pop aspect of the machines. I think I might still have might be downstairs. Um I remember getting like a great soda, and I was like, this packaging is just so cool.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Like what's everything's kawaii, everything's cute, and yeah, everything you got the language down. Yeah, I got kawaii and I got ergato no go goze. Yes. So yeah, it's just thank you very much after every conversation that I speak in English.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

So gozayamas, he was nice clearly.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

There was um, you you had kind of touched on it earlier, but I did just want to briefly bring it up because um that there's um Big Disney, Disney head and living so close to Orlando, I've grown up going to the parks. This was my first out-of-the-country park that I'd ever been to. And for folks who don't know, um, Tokyo has two Disney parks. They have their Tokyo Disneyland and then they have Tokyo Disney Sea. And Tokyo Disney Sea, if you've been to the Walt Disney World area or familiar with the brand, it's kind of like their Epcot instead of countries, though, like what Epcot has is different countries with different food and drinks and shopping from like nine different countries. Um, this Tokyo Disney Sea centers around ports. So it was, I mean, it was perfect for me to go to because number one, they had a food and wine festival going on, which was a little disappointing, I'll be, I'll be honest, um, because it wasn't anything like Epcot's. Um, they didn't have like the carts and the different experiences, you know, outside of each country. Um, you know, this all of the the food and the snacks and things were built into existing restaurants. Um, so it just kind of it was a little lackluster for the food and wine experience. Um, but they made up for it by celebrating their 25th anniversary.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

And so um back to like the ports, I brought some like little that it was all ports oriented, or did you just show up?

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Oh, you did. So I I did know because um I was like, well, instead of like drinking around the world, we can just do like drink around the ports.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Um, but it was so far if your husband was like, like, you didn't know, and he just showed up. He's like, Oh god.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

No, I told him in advance because they also they have it. I I bought this um a few little like merch things. They have a mermaid lagoon, and so I sent him a video of like the mermaid lagoon as like one of their ports. Um, so I don't know if you can see a little bit, but that's the mermaid lagoon. I'm showing an image up on the screen of like these little bags of like each port. So they have um these like main ports, and so it's like air ariel growing up, a Florida girl. Like, I freaking love Ariel, like Ariel is like top three Disney princess for me. She might be like one A. Uh, or I think she's one B. I'm gonna go Belle 1A.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

They're still here, you know, like very good conversation right now. Well, you know, we have a Bell girl, so I that's my follow-up question.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Yeah, I I think Belle is is one A, Ariel's one B, and then Jasmine, and then Tiana, and then Aurora. That's my top five. And I think it's a flawless top five if I do say so myself.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Um, especially for Aurora in that good job.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

I so I freaking saw this TikTok of like it all being like ports themed, and then they have an aerial port. I sent it to my husband, and I was like, I'm gonna crash out. Like it's and I indeed did um at some of the different shopping experiences, especially in the mermaid lagoon, because it's all kind of under the sea vibes, and there's a lot of like little kid rides. Of course, because it is Disney. Um, but they had uh Little Mermaid play it.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

If you've been to Disney World, you know that Ariel's ride is shit. I actually love that ride. Like compared to the experience you're talking about right now, like a whole situation of Ariel, like Ariel's an afterthought at Disney World, you know, like Snow White is now the owning that area, that property, and so I'm sure. Yeah. Sorry for all the snow white girls, girlies out there.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

There's no, I've never met a single person who's like Snow Whites in my top five.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Well, it's just like Belle. Like Belle now has like a little castle and restaurant, but she doesn't have a ride. But did you get to the city?

SPEAKER_02 24:13

She does at uh Tokyo Disneyland. I know.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Um that's why I want to go there so bad.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

I I chose the Tokyo Disney C because it was like kind of like Epcot. I, you know, I'm not interested in going to like a copy paste of you know a park that I've gone to, you know, a ton. Um, but I you what is crazy though is that you can see the castle from the highway in Japan. Like we were on the way to the airport, and I was looking at this hotel and I was like, oh my God, that's such a fancy hotel. Where is that coming from? And then boom, it's the castle. And so for folks who may not be aware, um, Tokyo Disney Sea also opened up in 2024 an area called Fantasy Springs. And so Fantasy Springs is one of their newer ports, but it basically is all of the princesses and all of like sort of the fantasy elements um of Disney into one area. And so that was a really beautiful area. It used to be like a separate ticketed place that you needed an additional ticket in order to get into. Um, but they they removed that rule earlier this year. Um, and so getting back, I guess, to the the other ports, in case you guys were were curious. Um, so they had the mermaid lagoon, I showed you that, but here is the Arabian coast, too. So if you walking around these areas are so beautiful, they're so detailed. Um, the other one that whenever you first walk into the park is um the Mediterranean harbor, which hopefully it kind of clears up. If you're watching this on the screen, I'm showing up these little bags of like what is the theme of that different port. And then the other one is the Lost River Delta, so very like Central South America themed. So trying to get, you know, the Arabian coast, um, obviously, you know, Japan and you know, the Asia area, and then um South America is all the that's what the entire park is themed around. So, of course, I went there, of course, I had a fantastic time, but I just thought it was kind of goes back to the saying of, and I guess maybe to sort of round out this um Japan segment is that I heard this quote once is that Japan is everything you know but more. And it doesn't quite make sense until you're there that everything you kind of like fandom wise, um gosh, I mean, I think fandom culture is just so huge there in a variety of ways. I mean, we talked about the toilets for God's sakes, like you know, everything but more. So everything that's a part of your like sort of daily life, they've kind of spent yeah they have people there that have spent years perfecting it. Um, ceramics comes to mind, of course, because of you know, the the the toilets, but even like Disney, like a Disney park like that, so incredibly detailed. Um the storytelling that goes into the park. Um, and then even from you know, the the gas stations or the convenience stores, you know, everything inside of them. The food is impeccable. Um, they you know, they sell cups of ice in order to mix like, you know, this all of this maybe like drink culture where you grab all these different types of drinks to make your own custom drink and um from skincare, uh, you know, shopping for God's sakes. I mean, and and probably my my favorite souvenir from the entire trip, something completely free is they have all of these different stamps that you can get for free at, and I don't know if they had this when when you were there, but all of the um like the train stations, um pop-up shops, uh uh they have all of these like little stamp kiosks where you can take your little book, a little notebook, and they have a stamp right there and you can stamp your notebook. Um, so a perfect use case was uh like uh different temples have their own stamps. And so if you go inside the temple, you find the you find the stamp stand. And um, of course, you know, you stamp your little book and you can kind of move on. They do it at all the train stations. Um, and then there were like some, you know, if you follow like anime, there's like a there was a one piece, you know, pop-up that had their own stamp there as well. And so it's a kind of a way to get people to come to your pop-up store, not that they needed a stamp in order to do that because it's so incredibly popular. Um, but it was, I thought it was just such a creative way to get people to explore different areas of the city. And you have, I have one of the coolest souvenirs I've ever gotten from any city I've ever been to that I can look back on. Um, and they even had like um, and I don't know that the you know, Japan or like any government entity created this, but they have a an app that was like, you know, stamps, you know, in Japan. And you could pull up wherever you are in the city or in downtown Tokyo. I don't know if they did it statewide, but in to any part of Tokyo, you could pull up this app and you could find all of the nearby stamps and go in and check out that business or that check out that temple that you might not have known was even around the corner, because that was another cool aspect is like you just had these shrines and temples that you know are just existing in like downtown areas. Um, so you know, it was it was definitely um super fun trip and there were a lot of logistics, you know, kind of tied around it. Um, but I thought those were probably two of the the bigger, like kind of pull stories is you know, the the port-themed theme park, which I don't know exists anywhere else, and then the secret supply chain of ceramics and how they play a role, how a toilet maker from Japan plays a role in modern-day technology, where you know, AI chips uh or just chips in general, semiconductors, you know, all that is involved within that supply chain that powers our everyday life.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Um key component of that comes from Japan too, which is so crazy because I think we've talked about semiconductors before, and I almost wonder if like uh Toto has like a um ceramic like uh IP or something that like no one else could get because of how they're explaining that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Well, I think it's two companies total that um that control essentially that entire supply chain. And I think I I got an image um that's up on the screen. I had uh all of my notes, I felt I filtered it through uh ChatGPT and it came up with um this image that to use for this uh for this episode to talk about all of the different you know sort of toilets in the chip supply chain. So if you're if you're just listening, it's just basically an image that kind of talks in detail about what we just talked about, just in a slightly you know more condensed way. Um, but it talks about this company in particular, founded in 1917. Um, a washlet maker turned chip supplier. Um, I think they actually had lost money for like 30 years until they started doing chip manufacturing and not, you know, not investment advice, but um the the stock price. I would um I know I immediately went to that's I immediately added it to my Fidelity account because they're only one of two makers. And if uh hey the I have a the philosophy of uh investing in the the picks and the shovels. Um, and so this was one company that I was like, well, it sounds like this is something I'm gonna invest in. Um so yeah, you can feel not investment advice. Uh I have to give that caveat, but uh it's definitely something I'm looking into.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

What toilet advice? It is not pressure, it is not investment advice, but it is toilet advice.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Yes. And did you know that you can, if you too have invested in a very affordable Amazon bidet attachment, that Amazon also sells, and I'm sure there's other people that sell this as well. I just haven't looked that far. Um, but that you can get a heated warm seat, and you can also get instant heated water. Um, I'm not sure how exactly they do that, but it's only a few hundred bucks. I would have expected that to be, you know, added, you know, an extra zero on the end of that. Um, but I probably still would have paid it. But the fact that it's, you know, you can get the same, mostly the same thing as the the two biggest features that I love the heatedness, a few hundred bucks.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

They're not even that expensive. Low key, I low key too. I feel like I need a new toilet. That's weird. What a weird. No, I just I I cannot go, I cannot come back from that comment.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

I think anybody who's been understands, like they they just understand, and if you don't, soon soon you will understand. Amazon has a return window that that you can take advantage of as well.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Yeah, exactly. No, they're really not that expensive.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

It's only a few hundred bucks, and I say only with the caveat of it brings that much. It's like what people say whenever you're investing in a mattress, like if you spend that much time sleeping, then you should invest in something that's gonna give you a better quality. And I I'm gonna girl math it with uh a you know a toilet seat as well. Yeah, I actually same for pillows, same for pillows, yes, which Japan is also famously known for like making custom-made pillows. I bought a hairbrush from Don Quixote. I bought a lot of things from Don Quixote, but I bought a hairbrush that has changed my life. Uh, it and I did not think it would be something that would change my life in that regard, but it is the best hairbrush I've ever purchased. Um I'll put a link to it maybe in the show notes if if anyone's interested.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

If you like golf too, I'll tell you, I I haven't bought them, but I there's a couple of YouTubers I've seen that go over have gone over for this. If you're a big golf guy, you can get golf clubs for the low in Japan. I know a lot of people go over there, they'll buy a set of clubs, they'll ship them back to America. Um, but you can get like a good set of clubs for a fraction of the cost in Japan as well. So there's a hack you can also get. Take your wife to Japan, get yourself some golf clubs.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

You'll love there's so many things that uh, you know, I think with any country you go to, there's always going to be things that you wish you could have done more of or done again. And this, I mean, Japan is definitely up there. One thing that I I wish I would have gotten that I didn't get was um jeans because they're just known for some of their textiles, jeans in particular. Um, I probably wouldn't have been able to wear them, you know, for living in Florida, you know, for at least six more months. It's dreadfully hot. I'm even sweating inside of my office right now, and I'm wearing shorts and a kind of somewhat of a tank top, but it's it's yeah. So jeans were one of them, eyeglasses were another. Not every lead is a good lead. Cargo Rex helps companies get found faster by buyers who are already researching solutions in their category. So instead of shouting out into the void, your business can show up where the actual buying intent exists. Create your free profile and then upgrade when you're ready over at cargo rex.io.

About the Author

Blythe Brumleve-Milligan
Blythe Brumleve-Milligan
Creative entrepreneur in logistics. Founder of Digital Dispatch, CargoRex, and host of Everything is Logistics. Co-Founder at Jax Podcasters Unite. Previously: Board member of Transportation Marketing and Sales Association, Freightwaves on-air personality. Annoying Jaguars fan.

To read more about Blythe, check out her full bio here.