It sounds like the worst kind of fear dream – a public restroom that seems to offer the promise of blissful relief, but which, on closer inspection, is fully visible.
However, that is the design feature behind several toilets that have recently opened in public parks in Tokyo.
The “transparent” toilets, created by Pritzker award-winning architect Shigeru Ban and more than a dozen other leading designers, are made of colored “smart glass” that rotates opaque when the cabins are occupied.
The convenience store opened this month at five locations in the Shibuya district of the capital as part of the Tokyo Toilet Project, organized by the non-profit Nippon Foundation.
Besides, the foundation said there were important practical considerations behind the unusual toilets, which compared it to an “interesting piece of toy equipment”.
“There are two concerns about public restrooms, especially those sitting in parks,” it said. “The first is whether it’s clean inside, and the second is that no one is secretly waiting in line.”
Using new technology, the foundation said the glass exterior walls of the cubicles will be covered after the door is secured, allowing potential users to examine the interior before spending a penny.
“At night, they light up the parks like a beautiful lantern,” it added.
Japanese high-tech toilets have long been the subject of fascination among visitors of the country.
Toto, the maker of the washbasin, now markets its toilets – complete with wash and dry modes, seat heating and lids that open and close automatically – in China and several other countries.
However, the foundation notes that despite the reputation of Japanese toilets for hygiene, many people still mistakenly believe that public facilities were “dark, dirty, smelly and scary”.
The project has plans to install the following toilets at 17 locations in Shibuya.
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