Letter: Japanese flush

Sir: On a recent visit to Japan I was impressed by their ingenious way of not wasting water in the lavatory.

Their cistern is not directly behind the lavatory, but at one side. It is triangular. Its top is a neat, three-cornered hand basin without a plug above which is the water pipe. When you flush the lavatory, water flows via the hand basin, in which you are washing your hands, to fill the cistern. One single quantity of water washes hands and flushes the lavatory. Simplicity itself, and a huge saving.

MARJORIE HEATH

Diss,

Norfolk