A tour of public lavatories designed by famous architects was recently held in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo.
The ward has public restrooms with peculiar designs that have been installed under The Tokyo Toilet, a project by the Nippon Foundation to change the image of public lavatories as being gloomy and dirty.
The Shibuya City Tourism Association held the tour in November. Ten people participated, including architecture students. They visited nine places in the ward to see innovative lavatories.
One of the facilities has walls made of special glass that is transparent when the restroom is vacant but, once the door is locked, the glass becomes opaque.
At the lavatory in Haru-no-Ogawa Community Park, the participants also observed how it is cleaned.
A cleaner told the group: “We use a mild chemical agent and special equipment to maintain both hygiene and durability.”
The tour programme also included a meeting with comedian Mitsuharu Sato, who uses the alias Dr Toilet for his restroom-related activities.
A Chuo University junior who took part in the tour said: “It’s great that users’ attributes and traits are reflected in the designs of the different facilities. I’d like to be careful about keeping public lavatories clean.”
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