They have really advanced toilet seats in some public bathrooms, though! Totally different angle to the Japanese - some of the toilets I used in Germany rotated the entire seat 360 degrees through a cleaning mechanism. Very hygienic!

1. Uses less water 2. No splash back

Also it is designed to facilitate stool examination, as it was invented when huge dysentery epidemics spread through Europe.

3. Smells worse.

This cannot be understated. They smell really bad. Have a friend who lived in Prague and his bathroom wasn't ventilated and he had a german shelf-toilet. Day after a big drinking session, it was unusable since the room smelt so bad.

Double plus for no splashback. I don't get how people can suffer through this. I hate so much being splashed by dirty toilet water. And this happens like 50% of times for me while using non-german style toilet.

Thanks. Up until 10 seconds ago, my memories of those had been nearly completely purged.

You only find those toilets in many decades old bathrooms.

I never understood the point of those things...

I saw that in Spain, too.