Tokyo Offers Curated Toilet Tours To Explore Japan’s Public Restrooms

Public toilets are those places people usually try to avoid. Places like these are deemed extremely unsanitary, risking a user to potential infections. This is not the case for public toilets in Japan, where they have developed it to be a tourist attraction. Like everything else in Japan, the toilets are created to be high-tech, boasting of ultra modernity. As per reports by the Daily Star website, the toilets are drawing tourists and interestingly guided tours are being set for them, becoming huge hits among these visitors. More reports state that this is a part of the Tokyo Toilet Project, which includes 17 toilets in the Shibuya area of Tokyo, Japan. The Nippon foundation started this project in 2020, with the aim to improve toilet accessibility. These loos were redesigned with the help of Japan’s top architects, becoming popular tourist destinations quickly. Apart from being just clean, these toilets provide hi-tech facilities and are constructed to be different from one another.

The tour program for the tourists commenced in March, people who choose to be a part of it can enjoy the bizarre yet modern views. The main goal behind these planned tours was to change the opinions of the public, especially foreigners. To show them that not all toilets are places to be repulsed by and what the city of Tokyo has to offer.

The district’s tourism association member, Yumiko Nishi said that many opted for this tour because they had interest in its architecture. She stated, “The highlight for visitors is that they can be driven around the less-visited parts of Shibuya and enjoy the entire district while checking out the toilets.”

On this unusual tour, you may stumble upon Three Mushrooms, which is the name given to a toilet building, constructed to resemble the fungi. It is made to look like it sprouted from the forest, which surrounds the Yoyogi-Hachiman shrine.

Architect Shigeru Ban is the man who created two of the loos. He developed colourful transparent toilets which turn opaque when the door is locked.