As we all know, Japan's toilet culture has always been respected all over the world. In 2010, Uemura wrote this tear-jerking song "トイレの神様", as the lyrics say: "As long as you clean the toilet every day, you can be as beautiful as a goddess." Many people also know "Toilet Goddess" for the first time because of this song.
In fact, the toilet god is not only the traditional culture of Japan, China also has its own toilet god called "Zigu", this folk belief began in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, prevailed in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
△ Japanese drama "Toilet Goddess"
In 1985, Japan established the "Public Toilet Association", which holds a toilet symposium every year and designates November 10 as "Japan Toilet Day" so that everyone who goes to the toilet can know the importance of the toilet. As a result, the toilet environment in Japan has improved significantly over the past few decades.
△ Cute illustration on the official website of the Public Toilet Association
01 Shibuya surprised the transparent toilet
Recently, in the park of Shibuya in Tokyo, a three-color fully transparent public toilet appeared, which caused a hot discussion on Twitter and attracted a large number of netizens to team up to punch in. From the outside to the inside, there are 3 rooms in total, men's toilet, women's toilet and a disabled person' special, with simple washstands, toilets and urinals.
△ Yoyogi Fukamachi Small Park Toilet
I believe that everyone is like me, the first reaction to see this toilet is how to use it? Originally, this transparent toilet is made of colored smart glass, as long as the user locks the door, the glass will automatically become opaque.
Master builder Shigeru Ban, winner of the Pritzker Prize, explains: "This special glass is used so that people can see the situation inside the toilet from the outside, prevent gangsters from hiding in the toilet, and also make it easy to observe whether the toilet is clean and tidy." ”
It is worth mentioning that this transparent toilet not only echoes the colors of the surrounding children's facilities, but also the architect Shigeru Ban also laid blind alleys to the entrance of the public toilets, and these details are enough to see the humanization of Japanese design.
▼ Color balance and echo
▼ Blind passage at the entrance of the toilet
In addition to the Yoyogi Fukamachi Small Park, Shigeru Ban designed the second transparent toilet located in Haruno-Ogawa Community Park.
△ Haruno-Ogawa Community Park toilet
At night, it transforms into a beautiful light box, and the gentle light illuminates the entire park.
In order to allow people to find people who have fallen or fallen unconscious in the toilet in time, after 30 minutes of single use, the toilet will automatically return to a transparent state. Morino sauce friendship reminder: constipation people, people who habitually squat on the toilet for a long time, or calculate the time, otherwise it will be very embarrassing to walk out of the scene.
There are also problems that make many netizens worry, what should I do in case of a power outage? The architect also answered everyone's doubts, the glass wall is made of electronically controlled liquid crystal glass, which will become transparent after power is turned on, and if the power is cut off, it will return to an opaque state, so there is no need to worry too much.
▼The middle one is for women
▼One room next to it is for men
02 Tokyo Toilet Plan
The two transparent toilets designed by Ban Shigeru are actually a Tokyo Toilet project promoted by the Japanese consortium The Nippon Foundation, which was originally intended to coincide with the Tokyo Summer Olympics in July this year, but the outbreak of the epidemic postponed the renovation plan.
△ Japanese illustrator Taro Muuchi
Although Japan has one of the highest levels of cleanliness, most people have a poor perception of public toilets, "dimly lit, dirty, and smelly." In order to change the public's prejudice against public toilets, the Nippon Foundation and the Shibuya District Government are determined to build public toilets that will be refreshing to everyone.
The program invited sixteen top design masters active on the world stage, not only Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma, Toyo Ito, Fumihiko Maki, Shigeru Ban and other architectural gods, but also UNIQLO artistic director Katsushi Kazukazu Sato, Issey Issey Miyake's first female watch designer Naho Tamura, "Father of Trend Space" Masatsuru Katayama, and so on, this design group will renovate toilets at 17 locations in Shibuya Ward.
All public toilets will be renovated by Daiwa House, Japan's largest residential builder, and advice on toilet equipment and layout will be provided by Japanese toilet maker TOTO.
Because there are a variety of people entering and leaving the public toilet every day, taking into account the needs of different social groups, the entrance to these 17 public toilets has also set up new signs, regardless of gender, age, physical condition or disability, so that everyone can use it with a relaxed and comfortable mood, reflecting the openness, inclusiveness and infinite possibilities of the city of Tokyo.
The uniform design of the cleaning staff is supervised by the Japanese fashion designer NIGO®️, which shows the trendy overalls and improves the work motivation of the cleaning staff.
△ NIGO, the godfather of Japanese trends
In this "Tokyo Toilet" renovation plan, it is reminiscent of September 8, 2013, when Japan's Olympic bid ambassador Masami Takikawa (a French-Japanese anchor) made the final statement in French, she used only the only Japanese word throughout the process, "おもてなし", which refers to "heartfelt hospitality and providing an ultimate care for others." ”
The public toilet is the most authentic business card of the city, as a civilized window of public facilities, it is a mirror for tourists around the world. In addition to creating a clean and hygienic toilet environment to meet people's basic needs, I think the most important point is to achieve a humanized design that can be comfortably used by different groups of people (the elderly, the sick, the disabled and the young).