Last summer, transparent boxes with clear, lightly colored walls appeared in the center of Yoyogi Fukamachi Mini Park. Inside were ceramic sinks, urinals and toilets, flanked by metal toilet paper dispensers, all visible to passersby.
These structures, the work of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban, were the first of 17 public restrooms set to dot the landscape of Shibuya Ward thanks to The Tokyo Toilet project.
“The use of public toilets in Japan is limited because of stereotypes that they are dark, dirty, smelly and scary,” writes the Nippon Foundation, which is organizing the project with help from local government.