Had I not been to the US this would have made little sense to me. US toilets and ours (NZ) are very different (the scrotal sag would have to be pretty epic to reach the water here).
Dutch toilets with their poo-presentation shelf are different too. And then there's squat toilets.
So you can inspect your feces for health issues is the reasoning I've heard.
But the furthest I've gotten into another country involved a cruise ship.
The only other time I left the country was to Canada,and that was just a quick trip across the border for a few hours. And mostly to say I visited 3 countries in one week lol.
That would explain the comment about nuts lol, I was perplexed by it. Just searched for American toilets and lmao what's the deal with so little space between where you are sitting and the waterline??