For Immediate Release
January 25, 2017
LIXIL Corporation

LIXIL Celebrates 50 Year Milestone for Key BusinessDevelopments
First to manufacture shower toilet in Japan in 1967
Tokyo, Japan – LIXIL Corporation (“LIXIL”), a global leader in housing and building materials, products
and services, celebrates a strategic 50-year milestone in 2017. In 1967, LIXIL introduced the first evermade-in-Japan shower toilet (bidet toilet), began mass producing unit bathrooms, and implemented
fully-integrated production lines for aluminum windows and entrance doors. These developments
played a key role in the growth of LIXIL’s legacy companies, impacting its global product portfolio today.

Sanitarina 61 (left), the first shower toilet made in Japan, was launched in 1967. Today, LIXIL produces
technologically advanced tankless shower toilets, SATIS-S (middle) and SATIS-G (right).

The 1960s, a high-growth era in Japan, witnessed a host of innovations emerging across the country,
reshaping the lifestyles of Japanese people. It was during this era in 1967 that Japan began tomodernize its above- and below-ground drainage system. One of LIXIL’s legacy companies, INAX, wasfocused on the development of ceramics and sanitary ware products and seized the opportunity todevelop and launch the first domestically-produced, commercial shower toilet: Sanitarina 61. At thistime, shower toilets were sold in Japan as medical devices imported from overseas. Today, such bidet
toilets make up over 80% of toilets installed in Japanese households.

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Shower toilets have continued to evolve and in 2016 LIXIL released a new technology called AQUACERAMIC, which resists stains and enables toilets to retain their shine for 100 years.
LIXIL also began full-scale mass production of unit bathrooms 50 years ago. Common in Japan, unit
bathrooms are pre-fabricated bathrooms that incorporate a bathtub, shower and a space for washing
the body. Unit bathrooms are easy and efficient to install, and their introduction played a revolutionaryrole in facilitating the lifestyle shift from using baths at communal facilities to having bathrooms athome. LIXIL’s latest series, SPAGE, embodies the concept of a bringing the Japanese spa into the home.
In 1967, LIXIL legacy company TOSTEM (then Nihon Tategu Kogyo) also established an integrated
production system for light, high-quality aluminum sash windows and entry doors, helping to meetbooming demand for housing. Implementation of fully integrated production lines enabled a stablesupply of products to the market, leading to the development of today’s energy-efficient products,
including high insulation windows.
LIXIL will continue to work with the industry to help shape the market and enhance living spaces.
-EndsContact

Public Affairs Division, LIXIL Corporation
John Short / Masako Takada / Kai Maraun:
pr_global@lixil.com
Tel: +81-3-6268-8801

About LIXIL
LIXIL Corporation is a global leader in housing and building materials products and services. The foundation of LIXIL’ssuccess is our constant investment in technological innovation to improve the way we live. Delivering core strengths inwater, housing, building and kitchen technologies, our brand portfolio businesses LIXIL, GROHE, American Standard
Brands and Permasteelisa are leaders in the industries and regions in which they operate. LIXIL produces some of theworld’s most fundamental and innovative products and services, and our solutions are an integral part of some of theworld’s most iconic and cutting-edge living and working spaces. Operating in more than 150 countries, and employing
more than 80,000 people, we bring together function, quality and design to make people’s lives better, and moredelightful – wherever they are.
About LIXIL Group
LIXIL Group Corporation (TSE Code: 5938) is the listed holding company containing LIXIL Corporation, LIXIL VIVACORPORATION and LIXIL Housing Research Institute, Ltd.. The Group, which is led by President and CEO Kinya Seto, isinvolved in a broad spectrum of housing-related businesses, ranging from the manufacture and sales of building
materials and housing equipment to the operation of home centers and a network of homebuilding franchises, andcomprehensive real estate service. LIXIL Group Corporation posted ¥1.89 trillion in consolidated sales in FYE March 2016.

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