Late last year shower specialists Oxygenics released sets of shower heads featuring the faces of Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse. They were warmly received by moms in America, who immediately saw them as a way to get kids motivated for bath-time and praised their easy water-pressure controls.

People in Japan saw the character shower heads quite differently, however, with some even going as far to call them “demeaning” and saying that “I don’t know if this is appropriate for children.”

When released in America the Disney-themed nozzles got some kind reviews from website Mom Trends, who remarked that “shower time just got a whole lot cuter!” Cleverly Changing also gave the sets a positive video review, saying: “If you’re trying to get your kid motivated to take showers, having a cool shower head definitely makes that transition easier.”

Images of the Mickey and Minnie shower heads reached Japanese eyes yesterday via a tweet presumably written by a fan out looking for some Disney merchandise online.

▼ “My nose pfffthahahahahaha! My nose pffthahahahaha! Blaghahahahaha!”

[tweet https://twitter.com/KiriyaMinnie/status/555238201040703489 align=center]

It certainly does appear that Mickey and Minnie are shooting high pressure water out of their nostrils. Not only that, but by changing the setting you can have water coming out of the beloved mice’s entire perforated faces. Other comments from Japan agreed that the shower heads were indeed a troubling product.

“Lol! I’ve seen people do that on the train.”
“Sweat and runny noses lol.”
“The water coming out of their faces is more disturbing than the nose.”
“Even while violently blowing their noses those mice always have a big smile.”
“Coming out the nose is kind of funny, but coming out of the face is just madness.”
“What was the guy who designed this thinking giving Mickey severe acne and a runny nose?”
“That’s disgusting!”
“Disney OK’d this?”

Granted this is a very limited sampling of American and Japanese responses to these shower heads but the two countries seem to have polar opposite feelings about them. It would appear that Americans see it as a shower head with Mickey and Minnie simply attached to it. Japanese people on the other hand seem to see it as Mickey and Minnie Mouse first and as a shower second.

▼ Interestingly one comment stands out both for being written in English and thinking the shower heads were cute.

Nevertheless, it looks to be a very well designed shower head with both a fixed and detachable outlet and offers “maximum strength with minimum water consumption.” As far as the design is concerned, well, I guess we’ll just have to chalk that up as a matter of personal taste. Maybe if people in Japan saw a more wholesome image of the shower head in actual use they would change their tune?

Huh, then again who knows in this kooky world?

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Shower heads can be bought online from Amazon for US$44.45 or direct from the Oxygenics website for $69.95, should you happen to like the idea of Walt Disney’s beloved cartoon mice squirting your naked body with fluid emitting from their nostrils. We’re not gonna judge.

Source: Oxygenics, Mom Trends (English), Twitter, My Game News Flash (Japanese)
Top Image: Twitter, Amazon
Video: YouTube – Cleverly Changing