Tokyo toilet gleams with more than cleanliness

First, Japan gave the world high-tech toilets. Now, a crystal toilet - studded with more than 72,000 pieces of Swarovski cut crystal and valued at over $100,000 (64,416 pounds).
 
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 toilets clean and taking good care of it have been a Japanese custom since long ago," he added.
 
"If we were to sell it, it would probably be worth around 10 million yen (83,757.49 pounds)."
 
Visitors admired the dazzling fixture, with one woman saying she'd like to invite her friends and hold a party around it.
 
But others said it might be a bit too exalted to be useful.
 
"It'd be hard. I don't think I'd feel comfortable enough to use it even if I had this at home," said 22-year-old Chikako Kawanami, an art museum receptionist.
 
The toilet will be on display until the end of December.