Tokyo installs transparent public toilets so people can look clean

• Two transparent bathrooms have been installed in public parks in Tokyo.
• They are made of “smart glass” designed so that people can see how clean they are inside before using them. The glass rotates opaque when the bathroom is locked and in use.
• The stables are part of a project that redesigns 17 of the city’s public bathrooms with various designers to make them more accessible and appealing.
• The aim is to dispel assumptions that public toilets are “dark, dirty, smelly and scared”, said the non-profit foundation behind the project.
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Tokyo has installed two transparent bathroom amenities in public parks, allowing people to see how clean they are before deciding to use them, at which point they turn the opaque.

The bathrooms are made of colored “smart glass,” which turns opaque when the stalls are locked, said Shigeru Ban, the architect behind the designs.

You can see how it works here:

“This allows users to check the cleanliness and whether anyone is using the toilet from the outside,” he said. “At night, the facility lights up the park like a beautiful lantern.”

The bathrooms have so far been installed in two of the city’s parks: the Haru-no-Ogawa Community Park and the Yoyogi Fukamachi Mini Park.

The installations are part of The Tokyo Toilet project, which is redesigning 17 of the city’s public bathrooms with various designers.

—Archinect (@archinect) August 17, 2020

The project was launched by The Nippon Foundation, a Japanese nonprofit that said it “wanted to build public restrooms that could be used by anyone.”

It said all designs were “accessible to anyone, regardless of gender, age or disability, to demonstrate the potential of an inclusive society.”

The foundation said that Japan was known as one of the cleanest countries in the world and that its public toilets were cleaner than most others around the world.

“However, the use of public restrooms in Japan is limited because of stereotypes that they are dark, dirty, smelly and scary,” the foundation said.

“To dispel these misunderstandings regarding public restrooms, the Nippon Foundation has decided to renovate 17 public restrooms in Shibuya, Tokyo, in collaboration with the Shibuya City Government,” it said.

The transparent facilities, along with some other designs, have been available for the public to use since August 5th.

Other designs include a stone building designed to look good in parks and a bathroom with spaces for “men, women, and everyone.”