In a COVID World, 104K Minnesotans Have Ditched TP for a Bidet It's been nearly a year since the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020. As toilet paper flew off store shelves at a frenzied rate last year, bidets -- not surprisingly -- saw a rise in popularity. According to Bespoke Surgical, the first “paperless toilet” was launched in Japan in 1980 by manufacturer Toto; it was a combination of toilet and bidet which also dries the user after washing. After finding success in Japan and South Korea, bidets went on to find international popularity elsewhere. For some reason, the US has been pretty slow to adopting the porcelain throne alternative; for many Minnesotans, our only exposure to a bidet has been when visiting a European country where they are much more common.