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In most first world countries, public toilets are a right not a privilege that people have to pay for. Europe is so backwards on their public toilet investment
by seoulmetro 2y ago
In most first world countries, public toilets are a right not a privilege that people have to pay for.
Europe is so backwards on their public toilet investments.
- shiroiushi 2y agoExactly: here in Japan, public toilets are all over the place: train stations, public parks, or frequently just random places in the city, on the street. And they're free, of course.
- autoexec 2y agoThe bathrooms in Japan are crazy to me. Depending on where you are the toilet might be the most luxurious experience your ass has ever had, or sometimes it's a literal hole in the ground and not even toilet paper is provided. I've never had a problem finding a toilet there when I needed one, but I kept kleenex in my back pocket because I never knew what to expect. I still prefer the holes in the ground to pay toilets.
- shiroiushi 2y agoYou have to go to really rural places to find the squat toilets these days, or maybe some poorly-maintained park. All new bathrooms these days have western-style toilets. One thing to watch out for, however, is that many bathrooms have no way to dry your hands, even in very nice bathrooms in fancy buildings, so you should bring a small towel with you. Some bathrooms don't even have soap, though this is pretty rare in my experience, but a lack of drying towels or hand dryers is somewhat common.
- amluto 2y agoThere also seem to be no public trash cans. How do people dispose of the utterly absurd amount of disposable packaging that everything comes with?
- shiroiushi 2y agoThey generally throw it away in the place where they're opening it. Usually, you don't open stuff up until you get home, and I would hope you have a trash can there. The big factor for foreigners is that people don't normally eat and drink while walking down the street; it's generally considered rude. If they stop and sit somewhere and eat or drink there, they keep their trash with them instead of throwing it on the ground like many other countries. If you're just getting stuff from a convenience store, you can usually throw stuff in the trash cans there. Most stuff I've seen doesn't have an absurd amount of disposable packaging, but that is really common with the gift boxes of sweets that are commonly bought at stations and given as gifts. But these you don't normally eat in public.
- kelnos 2y agoYou dispose of it where you bought it, or you don't open it until you get home, or you act like a good hiker who is out in the wilderness, and pack up your trash to bring home with you where you can properly dispose of it. I always found it amazing that Japanese cities manage to stay so clean without public trash cans everywhere. It's a reminder that you have to solve the social and cultural problems first: if people think it's ok to throw trash on the ground, it doesn't matter how many public trash cans you have.
- account42 2y agoI still prefer to have both: Considerate people and public infrastructure to make make sure good behavior does not conflict with convenience.
- diffeomorphism 2y agoWhere "pay" is pretty much just a symbolic amount. Same reasoning why shopping carts often have a 1€ deposit. The price is close to zero but makes a big psychological difference to actually being zero. Relatedly, offering stuff for free on ebay/craigslist/whatever turns up some incredibly entitled choosing beggars. Offering it for a token amount gives you very different results.
- seoulmetro 2y agoYes, except governments should be a little bit better towards their citizens than Ebay or the grocery store.