Althouse: "At first, it’s hard to fathom how a public restroom with transparent walls could possibly help ease toilet anxiety..."

August 18, 2020

"At first, it’s hard to fathom how a public restroom with transparent walls could possibly help ease toilet anxiety..."

"... but a counterintuitive design by one of Japan’s most innovative architects aims to do just that.... Even in Japan... residents harbor a fear that public toilets are dark, dirty, smelly and scary. To cure the public’s phobia, the non-profit Nippon Foundation launched 'The Tokyo Toilet Project'.... 'There are two concerns with public toilets... The first is whether it is clean inside, and the second is that no one is secretly waiting inside.' The design relies on a new smartglass technology that turns the walls opaque when the door is locked. 'At night, they light up the parks like a beautiful lantern'...."

Forbes reports.

29 comments:

Balfegor said...: At least in the Kanto region (near Tokyo), public restrooms in and around parks are often less pleasant than public restrooms in department stores, office buildings, train stations, etc, but they're still generally clean. That said, "clean" by the standards of someone who went to a California public high school and "clean" by Japanese standards are two different things. The recent public restrooms in JR train stations are quite nice and always look clean in my experience. The subway restrooms are maybe a notch below, but still excellent.

On the other hand, while clean, there's a public restroom in Ueno Park that looks like it's probably 50 years old. And on Mt. Takao, while some of the restrooms appear to have been updated (near the peak), others in the complex at the midway point are a lot more dated and are showing some wear. So maybe there's a market for this. Still don't think it will catch on though.; 8/18/20, 1:11 PM
Cameron said...: There used to be a restaurant in SoHo that had this same technology on the stalls in their restroom. I can report that such a system does not reduce anxiety, or in any event, does not do so on a universal basis.; 8/18/20, 1:12 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Clickbait headline. If the walls become opaque when someone's in the stall, then there's no issue with transparency.

Except, of course, when the new-fangled technology breaks, which it will, because that's what new-fangled technology always does when it's used in high-volume, low maintenance situations. In which case, it's going to be quite an unpleasant situation for all involved.; 8/18/20, 1:19 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne aka Doug Emhoff's Pimp Hand said...: The design relies on a new smartglass technology that turns the walls opaque when the door is locked.

Until it doesn't, then we get a whole new phobia.; 8/18/20, 1:42 PM
Ken B said...: So, clickbait misleading headline.; 8/18/20, 1:59 PM
walter said...: I remember back at U-Mad, the humanities building was the only building that removed the doors on the stalls in the men's rooms....
Various problems solved..some created.; 8/18/20, 2:12 PM
Joe Smith said...: @Balfegor

I've lived in Tokyo so this is for the nubies.

All in all the public restrooms are the cleanest I've ever seen, and they are everywhere. You don't have to worry about buying something to use one...just walk into any 7-11 or McDonalds and you are good to go (see what I did there?).

My first public restroom experience was at the Tsutaya Starbucks in Roppongi. Had a little coffee, needed to go, found the restroom, did my business. But then, the flush.

Most toilets (this was one of them) have a keypad on the wall that controls the functions: flush, air, bidet, etc. And all in Japanese! I studied the symbols carefully, deathly afraid that I would set off some sort of alarm (I've fallen and I can't get up!).

But I hit the correct button, and thereafter memorized the simple Hiragana characters for the proper flush.

I don't understand the shyness part. Many of the public restrooms were in parks where kids played on play structures. There were no doors, and a man could be standing at a urinal taking a leak and be in pretty much full view. On the trains, the men's restrooms often have a urinal, but the door is glass.

In any case, the Japanese as a society are OCD neat freaks in a good way. Don't ever worry about getting crammed into a subway during commute hours. Rest assured you will be the smelliest person on the train : ); 8/18/20, 2:56 PM
Joe Smith said...: Conversely, I was in Beijing in '01 with my son (he was 11 at the time). We needed to use a restroom near a market and the admission fee was 10 cents or so...no big deal.

I went in first. I've been all over the world, and to this day it was the filthiest room I've ever smelled or seen. It was as if people just took dumps on the floor and smeared it all over the walls. And the flies!

When I came out I told my son to take a huge breath and hold it, and whatever he did, don't let it out!; 8/18/20, 3:00 PM
bagoh20 said...: I stayed at a high end hotel in Vietnam about 10 years ago. The toilet was like a NASA command center. About 10 buttons to activate various modes like bidet hot or cold, air dry hot or cold, exhaust with power adjustment, warmed seat, vibration, etc. If it breaks down, do you call a plumber or a computer technician?; 8/18/20, 3:16 PM
PB said...: Great, more light pollution.; 8/18/20, 3:20 PM
Temujin said...: I give these about 1 hour in Portland, Seattle, SF, or New York.; 8/18/20, 3:22 PM
CStanley said...: People who shit in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.; 8/18/20, 3:34 PM
wild chicken said...: "it was the filthiest room I've ever smelled"

So, it's the same dirty rotten shithole my mother was born in 102 years ago.; 8/18/20, 3:41 PM
Joe Smith said...: "So, it's the same dirty rotten shithole my mother was born in 102 years ago."

If it was near the outdoor Silk Market in Beijing then maybe : ); 8/18/20, 4:17 PM
walter said...: Temujin,
Not necessary in SF.; 8/18/20, 4:26 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: these toilets are like Democrat politicians--

...all about transparency, until they're on the hot-seat; 8/18/20, 4:49 PM
Iman said...: Perhaps teh Japanese distrust public toilets because of that goddam TV show that had unsuspecting people sit on the toilet and then collapsed the walls around them, leaving them exposed, much to the amusement of their audience; 8/18/20, 5:03 PM
Earnest Prole said...: There are two concerns with public toilets... The first is whether it is clean inside, and the second is that no one is secretly waiting inside.

Murder, rape, and robbery in Japan are the lowest in the developed world, so their public-toilet paranoia is either absurd or smart depending on how you want to look at it.; 8/18/20, 5:14 PM
tim in vermont said...: Not new. Thye had these at an ice cream shop in West Palm Beach years ago. It was funny when someobydy forgot to lock the door.; 8/18/20, 5:30 PM
Joe Smith said...: "I give these about 1 hour in Portland, Seattle, SF, or New York."

When the genius SF supervisors decided to put those new enclosed, lockable toilets up and down Market Street for the 'homeless,' the law of unintended consequences reared its predictable head.

In no time flat the junkies were using them to shoot up and the whores were using them to turn tricks.

Who could have possibly seen that coming?; 8/18/20, 5:47 PM
walter said...: Kim Jong gets around this by bringing his own.; 8/18/20, 5:48 PM
mockturtle said...: As a female on her first visit to Japan in 1976, I used different styles of toilet from the 'squat over the pit' in subway stations to a heated luxury version at the Mitsubishi Club. All were clean. In fact, what struck me first about Japan, in general [at least in Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto], was the overall cleanliness. Not just the toilets but the taxis, which, in much of the US, are a filthy disgrace. One feels somewhat better when the cab is immaculate and the driver wearing white gloves, even if the ride itself can be hair-raising.; 8/18/20, 5:49 PM
tim maguire said...: I don’t think I could ever be confident that I’m not in display.; 8/18/20, 6:31 PM
I'm Not Sure said...: On a Vegas run with some friends, we didn't get into town until well after midnight. Not wanting to pay for a hotel room for just a couple of hours, we figured we'd just go to a city park and catch a few winks there- sure to be a restroom if needed. There was, and this pretty much nailed it:

"It was as if people just took dumps on the floor and smeared it all over the walls. And the flies!"; 8/18/20, 8:08 PM
rehajm said...: A million yen says these are a plant for Japanese hame show- yah the windows turn opaque but only from the inside looking out.

Ha! Ha!; 8/18/20, 8:25 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: ...like a beautiful, gas powered lantern.; 8/18/20, 9:18 PM
stlcdr said...: What is the 'new technology'? Seems like it's just 'old' liquid crystal technology applied to toilet walls.

Indeed, what 'new technology' has actually been invented in the past 20 years?; 8/19/20, 9:13 AM
Unknown said...: what 'new technology' has actually been invented in the past 20 years?
Quantum computers; re-usable, self-landing rockets; and the weird lithography process used for 7nm chip making come immediately to mind.

More on-topic, there was a one-way glass bathroom installed in the middle of some European square a while back. I thought it looked like great fun. Apparently, there are several of them.; 8/19/20, 11:56 AM
Bob Loblaw said...: I would love to have this blackout glass in my house, but apparently it's pretty pricey.; 8/19/20, 9:54 PM