Pretty much everyone in Japan uses q-tips and ear picks to clean their ears. The black ones show up the wax better so you can see what came out.

c.f. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_pick

Ear picks are sold at just about every tourist shop in Japan and are popular omiyage to bring back to someone after a trip.

Went to Japan, never came back.

This problem does not exist in Japan. Here almost all homes and places with public toilets have heated seats. It's just one feature of the washlet toilets which are the norm.

When I first came to Japan I thought it was weird but now I find the shock of a unexpectedly freezing toilet seat much more disturbing.

The only drawback is finding a toilet in the middle of summer where you can't adjust the temperature setting.