Photo: Satoshi Nagare, provided by The Nippon Foundation
Photo: Satoshi Nagare, provided by The Nippon Foundation
Seeing through Japan’s loos
Tomorrow’s Cleaning Editor Martin Wharmby takes a peek inside some of Tokyo’s latest public loo projects.
Japan is the land of the high-end toilet. Manufacturers like the world-famous TOTO frequently release increasingly technologically advanced models, featuring high tech built-in bidet sticks (aka ‘washlets’), heated seats, musical sound masking speakers and all manner of unique functions. The toilets could almost be classed as a proper tourist attraction by themselves.
Even the most basic of business hotel is likely to be equipped with a loo that comes with some form of ‘control panel’ for managing its tech. Many space-limited hotels and tourist attractions even opt for clever models with sinks atop the cistern, so the water you wash your hands with is reused to fill the reservoir – a simple but effective water- saving innovation that has yet to take off in the West.
When it comes to public facilities, Japan is also renowned for keeping them clean and hygienic, especially in its big cities. While you can still find plenty of examples of the tourist-terrifying ‘squat toilets’ the further off the beaten track you travel, for the most part the country’s public washrooms are the envy of local authorities worldwide. Despite this, the public toilet still has somewhat of a negative reputation in the eyes of the public.
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In August 2020, while most of the world was still reeling from the Coronavirus, the city of Tokyo unveiled the first entries in an unusual public bathroom project, intended to catch the attention of washroom users. Dubbed ‘The Tokyo Toilet’ project and managed by The Nippon Foundation, the venture tasked 16 different creators with designing or redesigning 17 different public toilets across the Shibuya ward of Tokyo.
Reimagined to be innovative, unique and accessible, the most headline-grabbing facilities have to be two sets of shockingly translucent cubicles – one in Yoyogi Fukamachi Mini Park and another in Haru-No-Ogawa Community Park. At first funny to look at and unsettling to think about using, both designs were developed by Pritzker prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban.
The transparency is – of course – not a permanent state. This kind of ‘smart glass’ technology has been in use for many years now, albeit mainly in more private or less intimate settings such as hotel room en suites, or for obscuring private offices and conference rooms. The glass turns opaque at the turn of a lock or press of a button, ensuring privacy by obscuring the view from both sides. The
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