public toilets (maybe i'm weird)

[katakori]

ok, i admit it, this is kinda strange.
but i would like to know if i'm the only one who actually value the fact that public toilets are most of the time so clean, conveniently placed EVERYWHERE you need one, and in fact more beautiful and comfortable than the one you'd ever have at home.

i just love them. i feel like japanese people have understood that this is a basic need that require a good feeling of comfort to be executed properly and satisfactorily. and i'm often amazed how easy it is anywhere in japan to find a depaato of a big electronic shop that has 2 spotless bathrooms on every floor, often with heating seats, and hot water/soap available at the clean and beautiful (!) sinks.

on the same lines, i was almost shocked when i dicovered the toilets in the shinkansen to be large (and equipped for disabled people), clean, with little alcohol tissues to clean the seats, and hot water to wash your hands afterwards.

it is a bit sick to link them, but i feel public toilets in japan are as precious and enjoyable as the hot/cold beverages vending machines. they allow me to NOT plan my day when i go out. i can just be anywhere and if i need one or the other, then i find it handy within a 2 minutes walking reach.

i think it's one of the most underestimated true convenient features of japan. there is still this myth of japanese style toilets everywhere, and shinjuku station style stinky bathrooms, but in fact they are now almost the exceptions...

is it only me?

[ramchop]

it is a bit sick to link them, but i feel public toilets in japan are as precious and enjoyable as the hot/cold beverages vending machines. they allow me to NOT plan my day when i go out. i can just be anywhere and if i need one or the other, then i find it handy within a 2 minutes walking reach.

Not maybe... you're definitely weird. You've actually planned your day when you going out in your home country, taking into account when and where you will pee? Weird, weird, weird!

[katakori]

ramchop, i'm not talking about peeing, of course...

bikkle, thanks for the link, i knew this site already, and i find it quite outdated. i mean go to some depaato around shinjuku station (the higher the floor, the better, for some reason...) and i dare you to get me a similar facility in a publicly accessible building in your home country (wherever it is...). i think the toilets depicted on this site (especially the "beautiful ones", are very plain and do not reflect the everyday reality.

[ramchop]

ramchop, i'm not talking about peeing, of course...

Not maybe... you're definitely weird . You've actually planned your day when you going out in your home country, taking into account when and where you will poop? Weird, weird, weird!

[GomiGirl]

You've actually planned your day when you going out in your home country, taking into account when and where you will poop? Weird, weird, weird!

When I was in China about 5 years ago, we planned our day around the pee stops at large international hotels. It has improved somewhat now, but then public toilets were nasty nasty nasty and there was only one for every few hundred people in China.

Even at fairly good restaurants and sightseeing spots, the toilets were badly maintained but worse still was that the general population didn't seem to make an effort to clean up after themselves.. It was more gross than you could imagine.

Chinese toilet culture shock

The squat dunnies I can usually cope with, but people were squatting over regular loos and missing.. extremely gross. Blech

(Ultra - what is the url of the vomiting smilie?)

[katakori]

thanks for taking china as an example. i didn't dare using the old china/india trump card...

in more 'developped' western grounds, although not "planing my day" as such, i was happy not to be a girl most of the time in paris, and yes, i did shit in public toilet in 'the city of lights' but only if there is no way to keep it in until i get home. and even then, i usually ended up paying (buying a drink in a nice clean cafe so i can use the 'patrons only' bathroom, for instance)...

[GomiGirl]

There are only a few times that I envy the male of the species which are peeing in public toilets or waiting in the queue at nightclubs.. although you often meet the nicest people in nightclub loo lines.

However, even as a grubby backpacker, it is easy to access the pristine five star loos at hotels in third world countries when you look very different to the locals.. the door men smile warmly and open the door as if you were staying in the hotel but they are really there to help keep out the locals. go figure

[American Oyaji]

Japan has some of the cleanest toilets I've seen , if compared to the U.S.

I mean, go to any gas station in the states and the toilets are usually the pits and smelly. Even go to a busy fast food joint.

In Japan? Shucks, I coulda sat on it bare butt without thinking twice about it. Gasoline Stands almost always have nice toilets that smell nice.
And McDonalds.....I think there is a thread somewhere about how nice the toilets at Makku are.