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For me, Japan’s secret tourism weapon is ubiquitous restroom access. In most EU and US cities, I waste tons of time trying to find a place to pee and it severel

For me, Japan’s secret tourism weapon is ubiquitous restroom access. In most EU and US cities, I waste tons of time trying to find a place to pee and it severely eats into my availability to shop or choose a well rated restaurant. Sorry, I walked past your cool looking shop at high speed because I was about to piss my pants. I end up with such a sour view of those cities probably because I am dehydrated and going through caffeine withdrawal. On my last trip to Japan, I averaged 20km of walking each day. If your city can’t accommodate basic human needs, it doesn’t deserve my tourist $.

jen729w 3y ago
Full agree. Come to Australia! Dunnys everywhere mate.
bombcar 3y ago
My secret shame is always carrying Here maps with lists of all McDonalds. Wi-Fi and restrooms what more do you need?
- bboygravity 3y ago
  There are cities where that won't work: Lisbon (you need a code from the receipt to enter the bathroom).
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Lisbon was where I pioneered it; you might have to buy something cheap, but at least you have a restroom available. If you're really penny pinching, the ground is often littered with receipts.
- wintermutestwin 3y ago
  If I am near a McDonalds while I am touring a city, it generally means I have made poor route decisions.
dewey 3y ago
In return, we do have ubiquitous trash cans in EU and US cities, which are hard to come by in Japan.
- elevatedastalt 3y ago
  And yet Japanese towns are cleaner and less grimy.
  - pezezin 3y ago
    Japan is absolutely full of grimy streets and decaying buildings. Come on, outside of a few core neighborhoods, most Japanese towns and cities are ugly as sin.
- CobaltFire 3y ago
  Every konbini and vending machine has one, and those are EVERYWHERE. I'm not sure how it's hard to find one.
  - dewey 3y ago
    The vending machines often have ones with a bottle shaped hole explicitly telling you to only throw bottles in there.
  - mitthrowaway2 3y ago
    Vending machines do not have garbage cans. If you think they do, you're making a mistake. Combini have been increasingly restricting access to the garbage can. They've also been disappearing from train stations, where they used to be common. It's interestingly a similar dynamic to washrooms in other countries: if only a few places have them, they get harder for those places to maintain as they get used so heavily. So nobody wants to maintain them anymore. On the other hand, when they're ubiquitous, it's easy to offer as a free service, because it will only be lightly used. Because of the lack of garbage cans, I also reduce my consumption. That popsicle looks delicious but I don't want to walk around holding a popsicle stick for an hour, no thanks.
tkgally 3y ago
Long-time Japan resident here. I agree. And public restrooms have been improving. While I still, very occasionally, encounter one that has old or broken equipment or that needs cleaning, overall they are much cleaner and more pleasant than they were forty-two years ago, when I moved here. Restrooms in train stations in particular have improved immensely. If I were asked to guess why restrooms in Japan are good and getting better, I would suggest a number of possible factors: public pressure on municipalities and businesses to create a positive experience for both residents and tourists; very little crime; large-scale homelessness being limited to a few parts of Tokyo, Osaka, Kawasaki, Yokohama, and one or two other large cities; and a widespread attitude that a lack of clean, available restrooms is abnormal and needs to be fixed. A boom in tourism since COVID may be creating a challenge, though. The only two times recently when I have had trouble finding a public restroom were when I happened to go to areas crowded again with tourists: Asakusa in Tokyo and Namba in Osaka. I saw shops in both places with signs up in Japanese, English, and Chinese saying they didn’t have restrooms, presumably to keep tourists from coming in just to use the facilities. I can’t remember ever seeing that in non-touristy areas.
- dbelford 3y ago
  The recent movie Perfect Days (2023) seems to reflect this as well. From wikipedia: "[Director Wim] Wenders was invited to Tokyo by Koji Yanai to observe the Tokyo Toilet Project, a project in which Japanese public toilets were redesigned in 17 locations throughout Shibuya with the help of 16 creators invited from around the world. Wenders was invited to take a look at the uniqueness of each of these facilities. At first, the producers envisioned Wenders would make a short film or series of short films on the facilities, but he opted for a feature film"
- rawgabbit 3y ago
  In Asakusa and other tourist places I typically go to 7-11. Hit the toilet immediately and buy a drink and snack and sit down to rest my sore feet. Has that changed?
  - tkgally 3y ago
    Probably not. It’s only relatively recently—that is, relative to my four decades in Japan—that convenience stores have offered restroom access, and I often forget about them when I need to go. Thanks for the reminder.
bboygravity 3y ago
Random tips: Never go to Netherlands or Germany. Not a single (free) public toilet seems to exist there and the few they do have will make you pay at least 1 EUR per pee. Switzerland and France has (free) public toilets AFAIK. Portugal has free public toilets in almost every grocery store and public library.
ProllyInfamous 3y ago
>ubiquitous restroom access. I think the antithesis of Japan would be NYC, where even as paying customer many locations don't have accessible facilities. If you think the reason your city/subway "smells like piss" isn't because of lack of restrooms, then you're wrong councilperson.

jen729w 3y ago

Full agree. Come to Australia! Dunnys everywhere mate.

bombcar 3y ago

My secret shame is always carrying Here maps with lists of all McDonalds. Wi-Fi and restrooms what more do you need?

bboygravity 3y ago
There are cities where that won't work: Lisbon (you need a code from the receipt to enter the bathroom).
- bombcar 3y ago
  Lisbon was where I pioneered it; you might have to buy something cheap, but at least you have a restroom available. If you're really penny pinching, the ground is often littered with receipts.
wintermutestwin 3y ago
If I am near a McDonalds while I am touring a city, it generally means I have made poor route decisions.

dewey 3y ago

In return, we do have ubiquitous trash cans in EU and US cities, which are hard to come by in Japan.

elevatedastalt 3y ago
And yet Japanese towns are cleaner and less grimy.
- pezezin 3y ago
  Japan is absolutely full of grimy streets and decaying buildings. Come on, outside of a few core neighborhoods, most Japanese towns and cities are ugly as sin.
CobaltFire 3y ago
Every konbini and vending machine has one, and those are EVERYWHERE. I'm not sure how it's hard to find one.
- dewey 3y ago
  The vending machines often have ones with a bottle shaped hole explicitly telling you to only throw bottles in there.
- mitthrowaway2 3y ago
  Vending machines do not have garbage cans. If you think they do, you're making a mistake. Combini have been increasingly restricting access to the garbage can. They've also been disappearing from train stations, where they used to be common. It's interestingly a similar dynamic to washrooms in other countries: if only a few places have them, they get harder for those places to maintain as they get used so heavily. So nobody wants to maintain them anymore. On the other hand, when they're ubiquitous, it's easy to offer as a free service, because it will only be lightly used. Because of the lack of garbage cans, I also reduce my consumption. That popsicle looks delicious but I don't want to walk around holding a popsicle stick for an hour, no thanks.

tkgally 3y ago

Long-time Japan resident here. I agree. And public restrooms have been improving. While I still, very occasionally, encounter one that has old or broken equipment or that needs cleaning, overall they are much cleaner and more pleasant than they were forty-two years ago, when I moved here. Restrooms in train stations in particular have improved immensely. If I were asked to guess why restrooms in Japan are good and getting better, I would suggest a number of possible factors: public pressure on municipalities and businesses to create a positive experience for both residents and tourists; very little crime; large-scale homelessness being limited to a few parts of Tokyo, Osaka, Kawasaki, Yokohama, and one or two other large cities; and a widespread attitude that a lack of clean, available restrooms is abnormal and needs to be fixed. A boom in tourism since COVID may be creating a challenge, though. The only two times recently when I have had trouble finding a public restroom were when I happened to go to areas crowded again with tourists: Asakusa in Tokyo and Namba in Osaka. I saw shops in both places with signs up in Japanese, English, and Chinese saying they didn’t have restrooms, presumably to keep tourists from coming in just to use the facilities. I can’t remember ever seeing that in non-touristy areas.

dbelford 3y ago
The recent movie Perfect Days (2023) seems to reflect this as well. From wikipedia: "[Director Wim] Wenders was invited to Tokyo by Koji Yanai to observe the Tokyo Toilet Project, a project in which Japanese public toilets were redesigned in 17 locations throughout Shibuya with the help of 16 creators invited from around the world. Wenders was invited to take a look at the uniqueness of each of these facilities. At first, the producers envisioned Wenders would make a short film or series of short films on the facilities, but he opted for a feature film"
rawgabbit 3y ago
In Asakusa and other tourist places I typically go to 7-11. Hit the toilet immediately and buy a drink and snack and sit down to rest my sore feet. Has that changed?
- tkgally 3y ago
  Probably not. It’s only relatively recently—that is, relative to my four decades in Japan—that convenience stores have offered restroom access, and I often forget about them when I need to go. Thanks for the reminder.

bboygravity 3y ago

Random tips: Never go to Netherlands or Germany. Not a single (free) public toilet seems to exist there and the few they do have will make you pay at least 1 EUR per pee. Switzerland and France has (free) public toilets AFAIK. Portugal has free public toilets in almost every grocery store and public library.

ProllyInfamous 3y ago

>ubiquitous restroom access. I think the antithesis of Japan would be NYC, where even as paying customer many locations don't have accessible facilities. If you think the reason your city/subway "smells like piss" isn't because of lack of restrooms, then you're wrong councilperson.