Buy Buy, Baby: The $5,500 Toilet

"Buy Buy, Baby" is a new Friday feature that explores unique luxury goods and what makes them special. Check back every week for more items to put on your wish list.

Goh Chok Tong, a previous prime minister of Singapore, threw down a challenge for his nation in 1996, saying it could "measure its graciousness" by its bathrooms. Clean toilets indicate a prosperous country -- that was the gist of his take on national pride.

These days, it may take more than just a simple, clean water closet to prove one's worth. You need to do better than that. And so, if it seems as though your investments have been flushed away in recent months, why not simply invest in the toilet itself?

Enter the $5,000-plus john.

The $5,500 Neorest toilet has so many features, it comes with a remote-control gadget (shown on the wall).

Toto USA, a subsidiary of its Japanese parent company, has crafted two of the world's most expensive toilets. The Neorest 600 has a retail price of $5,460, while the Neorest 550 is slightly cheaper, but no less lavish, at $5,250.

The units are on display at Toto's high-end showrooms throughout the U.S. You won't find them at Home Depot(HD Quote) or Lowe's(LOW Quote), but you will see them if you visit New York City's W Hotel, presidential suites at the Four Seasons or the Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa in Las Vegas.

So what's the appeal? Why shell out the equivalent of a used car or a trip to Hawaii on Thomas Crapper's most famous invention?

Lenora Campos, manager of media relations for Toto, makes the case for the luxury toilet in the context of a growing social trend.

"There is a dominant trend today among homeowners," she says. "It is the idea of the spa bathroom. People really are creating a personal enclave where they can close the door, disengage from the 24-7 wired world, relax and reclaim themselves."