Japan's high-tech toilets are nothing new but their growing popularity has prompted the government to use them as a tool to promote tourism and sell the technology abroad.

A panel set up under Haruko Arimura, minister in charge of women's empowerment, submitted a report Monday recommending the government use toilets to boost tourism in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"Japan's toilet technology should serve as a perfect tool to spread our culture of omotenashi (hospitality)," the panel said in the report.