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. 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. (Reuters)