I took the above picture at a bathroom on the Hakone Round Course. Apparently some gaijin had misused the toilet in the past and made a mess.

When I lived in Japan in the 1980s I saw and used what we called “squatters” all the time. In fact, it was the most common public toilet at that point in time in Japan and was the only toilet I had in one of my apartments.

Fast forward to our visit in 2007. The above squatter was the only one we encountered in our entire two weeks in Japan. Squatters seem to be much rarer now. Japanese toilets are actually some of the best in the world with more gizmos and gadgets and features most people have never even dreamed of on a toilet.

When we arrived in Narita airport my family used the bathroom immediately after we got off the plane and said it was the best bathroom they’d ever seen. We experienced a few restrooms later on the trip that were even better.

Back to the above photo… The picture is quite humorous if you blow it up and look at it closely.

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Posted on September 26th, 2008 under Japan • Tags: japan pictures, japanese toilet, signs, toilets. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback