These amazing Japanese toilets will leave you flushed with excitement
- From an open-air toilet with its own miniature garden to one that makes you feel like you’re on skis, these toilets must be seen to be believed
- Efforts are being made to up Japan’s toilet game across the country to appeal to the millions of foreign tourists it hopes will return post-pandemic
Japan is elevating its humble public conveniences into works of architectural, technological and aesthetic wonder which in turn is transforming them into landmarks and encouraging “toilet tourism”.
Japanese home-fittings companies have built a reputation for designing the world’s most hygienic bathroom equipment, with the “washlet” built-in bidet a standard fixture in most modern homes, along with heated toilet seats, sound options to conceal any embarrassing noises, and environment-friendly flush options.
Japan’s public toilets, however, have not always lived up to those high standards. Dark, grubby and malodorous, some are a throwback to the 1960s and too many are still of the uncomfortable squat-over-a-hole-in-the-ground design. But that is changing.
The concept of universal design and the need to make public bathrooms genuinely convenient and accessible to people with physical challenges have started to drive design considerations.
There is also a sense that more welcoming toilets would be appreciated by the millions of foreign tourists Japan hopes will be returning to its shores now Covid-19 restrictions have been removed.
The oldest extant toilets in Japan are those at Kyoto’s Tofuku-ji Temple, which were in use by monks in the early Muromachi era, which lasted from 1336 to 1573.
