"Chinese tourists flooded Japan last week, spending an estimated $959 million in Japan’s shopping malls and department stores, according to Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times. While many splurged on luxury goods, the hot item this season was Japanese toilet seats. The electric seats, known for being dizzyingly complicated, feature add-ons such as automatic disinfection, bidet services, warmers, perfumes and “masking noises” that can cover up any indiscreet sounds while one is using the loo. Some Chinese buyers didn’t even ask the price for the toilet seats when purchasing them, according to the Beijing Youth Daily. They sell for $300 and up." - Jessie

"The toilet seat affair comes amid chilly relations between the two East Asian countries, which have become colder since Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power in 2012. The two nations have been locked in a dispute over a set of barren islands near Taiwan, as well as how to acknowledge and commemorate World War II-era atrocities." - Jessie

"In one recent sign of the continued frostiness, the common name of the China-Japanese Friendship Hospital in Beijing was changed this month to remove the word “friendship.”" - Jessie