While you are enjoying a walk in Koto City, you may find a retro-cool Japanese style pub. (Picture 1) Okay, let’s pop into the pub and have a glass of sake and some yakitori! But, when you pass through the short curtain (Picture 2), you’ll soon find that the pub is not actually a pub, but it is a … public restroom! (Picture 3)
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| Picture 1 |
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| Picture 2 |
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| Picture 3 |
The Tokyo local government has been promoting the policy of making a comfortable city before inviting the Olympic and Paralympic games. In July 2006, the Tokyo local government established a guideline for public restrooms improvement from the citizen’s point of view. Based on the guideline, one public restroom should be built within the radius of 400-500 meters from another one, which means that you can reach a public restroom in less than ten-minute walk.
Koto City is one of the cities in Tokyo that are actively working on public restrooms. When it comes to the quantity, there are 193 public restrooms in Koto City as of April 2019. The density of public restrooms in Koto City is 4.805 per square km, compared with 1.479 in Osaka. Regarding the quality, they make careful consideration that a public restroom fits in a local sight, as residents usually hesitate for a public restroom to be built in their vicinity. As a result, that pub-looking restroom has been built!
Let’s see other examples of public restrooms with unique appearance in Koto City.
It looks like a traditional Japanese warehouse in a preserved area, but it is a public restroom in a park, which was once on a property of “Tomioka Hachiman-gu”, a local worshipped shrine. (Picture 4) This public restroom was built with the intention to reproduce a warehouse of the shrine.
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| Picture 4 |
This public restroom has a strange roof, like a hat or something. (Picture 5) Can you guess what this structure represents? Well, this public restroom is located at the foot of “Eitai Bashi”, a beautiful bridge over the River Sumida, linking Koto City and Chuo City. (Picture 6) The “hat” of this public restroom represents the bridge!
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| Picture 5 |
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| Picture 6 |
When you suddenly need to search for a restroom during a walk in Koto City, don’t worry. Just consult a city map. (Pictures 7 and 8) The legend with a standing lady and a standing man shows a public restroom. The legend also appears on a wall of a public restroom (see a left side of Picture 5).
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| Picture 7 |
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| Picture 8 |
Not only a lot of sightseeing spots but also public restrooms in Koto City are waiting for you!
By Naoki
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