i was taught the japanese mercy flush back in the late 90s, basically you want to flush mid rope to beat the stink. sure, it is not ecologically or environmental conservative, but polite society was better off regardless. that, i guess, is the japanese way. however, once during a fast food stop at a wendy's, my mercy flush turned into a nightmare as the payload or the mere plumbing status caused plug and the water began rising while i was still defecating. in a panic, i dropped off most of the kids at the pool and got out of there, opting to use the drive thru instead. the moral of this story is while the germans have good ideas occasionally and rigid traditions, the japanese will ebb and flow with the tides and pick and choose the best over time. the americas go with low cost per acceptable performance.
Canada