17 Extraordinary Restrooms In Tokyo That Make Public Spaces Beautiful

Hi Toilet - a “contactless” toilet My inspiration to design a fully voice activated toilet came about after much research and reading around users' behaviours in public toilets across Europe and the US to avoid contact with the surface; 60% stepping on toilet levers to flush, 50% opening the door with toilet paper, 40% closing the door with hip, 30% avoiding hand-contact as much as possible by using elbow. After three years of research, planning, and designing, we came up with the concept of the VOICE COMMAND Toilet, “Hi Toilet,” where all commands were activated by voice. This idea has been in place long before the arrival of COVID-19, but COVID accelerated the acceptance of this unique user experience in terms of “toilets being contactless”. If this toilet could deliver a “Clean City Tokyo” image to the world, I would be extremely happy.

Creator: Shigeru Ban, Architect
There are two things we worry about when entering a public toilet, especially those located in a park. The first is cleanliness, and the second is whether anyone is inside. Using the latest technology, the exterior glass turns opaque when locked. This allows users to check the cleanliness and whether anyone is using the toilet from the outside. At night, the facility lights up the park like a beautiful lantern.

Creator: Tomohito Ushiro, Creative Director / Art Director / President of WHITE DESIGN Monumentum
I wanted to design a public toilet that embodies the original idea behind this project, that “we are all the same in the sense that we are all different.” I wanted this facility not only to be safe, secure, and clean but also easy to use for everyone. Since it’s inside a park, surrounded by greenery and many residents and visitors, I designed this toilet to be like a piece of public art that is part of daily life while also constantly asking questions to the viewer. I hope it becomes a monument that continues to question the significance of this project. The toilet lights up in 7.9 billion ways―as many as the world’s population. It continues to illuminate in different patterns, like light filtering through the trees during the day and like the moonlight or wandering fireflies at night, and you will never see the same pattern twice.

Creator: Shigeru Ban, Architect
There are two things we worry about when entering a public toilet, especially those located in a park. The first is cleanliness, and the second is whether anyone is inside. Using the latest technology, the exterior glass turns opaque when locked. This allows users to check the cleanliness and whether anyone is using the toilet from the outside. At night, the facility lights up the park like a beautiful lantern.

Creator: Toyo Ito
Three Mushrooms
The toilets resemble three mushrooms that sprouted from the forest around Yoyogi-Hachiman shrine. Despite being built along the main thoroughfare of Yamate-Dori, they sit at the steps that lead to the shrine. The impression of mushrooms creates a sense of harmony with the forest in the background. Having three separate toilets with circulation space in between makes it easy to navigate. Connecting paths with no dead-ends also allows good visual connection, creating a safe environment and preventing crime. By securing ample space and by equipping elderly and parental functions that are usually only available in accessible toilets, the toilet ensures that it is truly public and accessible to everyone.

Creator: Sou Fujimoto, Architect
Vessels and Fountains
I believe that a public toilet is an urban watering place, a fountain in the city. We propose a public hand-washing facility that is open not only to those who use the restrooms but also to a wide variety of people with different purposes. The toilet acts as a single large vessel made for everyone’s use. The shape of the facility, with its large concave center, is the result of incorporating hand-washing stations of various heights. It is intended to create a small community of people, from children to the elderly, to gather around the vessel to wash their hands, drink water, and engage in conversation. We would like to propose a new type of public space where people can gather and communicate around water.

Creator: Kengo Kuma, Architect
A Walk in the Woods
We designed a toilet village inside the lush greenery of Shoto Park. The five huts, each covered with eared cedar board louvers installed at random angles, are connected by a walk in the woods that disappears into the forest. Each toilet that makes up the village is designed with a distinct layout, facility, and interior to accommodate different needs (family, dressing and grooming, wheelchair, etc). By dividing each section into separate buildings, we created a “public toilet village” that is open, breezy, and easy to pass through, a design appropriate for the post-pandemic times. Even in our toilet design, we are entering the age of diversity and a time to go back to the forest.

Creator: Nao Tamura, Product designer
The toilet is a place where we address physical needs universal to all mankind, regardless of age, sexual identity, nationality, religion, or skin color. As we come into an age of increased awareness, how can a communal space like the public bathroom evolve in order to effectively accommodate our infinitely diverse needs? Living in New York, I have been privileged to witness the LGBTQ+ community living in alignment with their sexual identities. As I designed this public toilet for a small triangular lot in Shibuya, I envisioned a society that embraces the LGBTQ+ community and holds space for them to live their truth. I realized that what enables each user to have a comfortable experience boils down to safety, privacy, and urgency. With this in mind, I created three separate spaces that redefine the way a public toilet establishes personal space. The design was inspired by Origata, a traditional Japanese method of decorative wrapping. A symbol of gift-giving, this motif embodies the spirit of hospitality towards Shibuya ward’s multinational visitors and carries my vision to create a safe space that envelops all users. This design represents my hope for a society where people from all walks of life feel safe and are able to thrive.

Creator: Tadao Ando, Architect
AMAYADORI
I sought for this small architecture to exceed the boundaries of a public toilet to become a “place” in the urban landscape that provides immense public value. Using this clear and simple reasoning for the concept of this structure, I chose to utilize a circular floor plan with a spanning roof and engawa. It was vital for me to make a space that was comfortable and safe. Visitors can move inside a cylindrical wall of vertical louvers to feel the comfort of the wind and light from the surrounding environment. A feeling of safety will be emphasized by the free and centripetal circulation, which passes through to the other side. This toilet tucked away in the greenery that is Jingu-Dori Park will be known as “Amayadori.”

Creator: Kashiwa Sato, Creative Director / President of SAMURAI INC. WHITE Clean and safe
Since the toilet located beside the police box in front of the Ebisu station is a neighborhood symbol that people see every day, we thought it should not be too conspicuous. The facility should be easy to enter, easy to use, and have a clean appearance that inspires the passersby to feel a little bit brighter and fresher. This pure white toilet was designed by addressing every point of consideration that is usually taken for granted in a restroom facility.

Creator: Marc Newson, Industrial designer
Central to my design is the reference to vernacular Japanese architecture, including the copper Minoko roof. Often found in shrines, temples, and tearooms and in rural areas, I wanted the roof form to trigger a subconscious feeling of comfort and peacefulness amid its busy, hypermodern location. The patina on the copper pyramidal roof will integrate the structure into the city over time, so it becomes part of the fabric of Tokyo. It is important to me that the Toilet feels trustworthy and honest inside and out: the bright interior is seamlessly and hygienically finished in a monochromatic green, one of my favourite colours. My design for the Toilet focuses on functionality, simplicity, and creating an inviting and enduring space. I hope the Toilet will become something not only magical but incredibly useful to find in Shibuya, like the many hidden gems within the city.

Creator: NIGO®, Fashion designer / Creative director
THE HOUSE
The concept of this design is about learning from the past. First and foremost, I thought about its accessibility and ease of use. In contrast to the ever-changing city of Tokyo with its sky-high buildings, I envisioned a toilet that feels like a good old home that stands quietly on a corner of Harajuku. The toilet may feel nostalgic to some and new to others, depending on their age and generation.

Createor: Takenosuke Sakakura, Architect
ANDON TOILET
The former toilet in Nishihara 1-chome were uninviting and rarely used. We thought it was important to create a facility that not only fulfills the basic requirements of a public toilet, such as having enough toilets to ensure a reasonable wait time, but also offers a unique appeal that encourages more people to use the facility. By constructing a facility that is bright and open in the limited space of the site, we hope to improve the image of not only the toilet but the entire park. We hope that the toilet will illuminate the park like an on-and-off switch or lanterns, creating an inviting public space for visitors.

Creator: Fumihiko Maki, Architect
The project site, Ebisu East Park, is a popular neighborhood park that is used as a children's playground and is filled with lush greenery. We wanted this facility to function not only as a public restroom but as a public space that serves as a park pavilion equipped with a rest area. Thinking about a variety of users, from children to people on their way to work, we wanted to create a safe and comfortable space that uses a decentralized layout to allow for good sight lines throughout the facility. The cheerful roof that integrates the different sections promotes ventilation and natural light, creating a bright and clean environment while giving the facility a unique appearance similar to playground equipment. Ebisu East Park is also known as “Octopus Park” because of its octopus playground equipment. We hope this new facility, the “Squid Toilet,” will become a popular addition to the park.

Creator: Masamichi Katayama / Wonderwall®︎, Interior designer “Modern Kawaya”
This is a design proposal for a public toilet inside Ebisu Park. The proposal is part of Shibuya City’s THE TOKYO TOILET project. We kept in mind a facility that distances itself from architectural concepts and elements: an object that stands casually in the park as if it were playground equipment, benches, or trees. In Japan, the origin of toilets is kawaya, written initially as 川屋 and later 厠 (also pronounced kawaya). Kawaya was a hut (ya 屋) that stood over the river (kawa 川), dating back to the Neolithic times of the early Jomon period (10,000 to 6,000 BCE). These huts were of primitive and simple designs, often made of hardened soil or pieces of wood bound together. Trying to envision the appearance and atmosphere of the primitive kawaya of the past, we built an “ambiguous space” that is simultaneously an object and a toilet by randomly combining 15 concrete walls. The spaces between the walls lead users into three different areas designed for men, women, and everyone. The design creates a unique relationship in which users are invited to interact with the facility as if they are playing with a curious piece of playground equipment.

Creator: Junko Kobayashi, Architect
The Toilet of the Town Lights
A large, yellow, oval-shaped awning hangs over a series of cylindrical toilets of varying heights, with silhouettes of rabbits peeking out from the round windows installed on the exterior walls. Site-specific circumstances required a lightweight construction, so we chose a weather-resistant steel plate panel structure for the facility design. The large awning creates a sky-like opening, eliminating the dark and closed feeling of the area beneath the Keio Line elevated railway tracks. The steel plate panels were rusted once to retain their strength and texture indefinitely.
We aimed to create a public toilet that has a strong presence, like a stubborn old man always watching over the people, while also maintaining a fun and entertaining atmosphere. The wide entrance gives the facility a massive yet open feel, with a bright, clean interior that is both secure and welcoming.

Creator: Miles Pennington / UTokyo DLX Design Lab, Professor
…With Toilet
Does a public toilet ever try to be the centre of attention in a local community? Public toilets can often become underused, lose their value to people, and gradually be forgotten. To try and reverse that trend, we created ‘...With a Toilet. It is a public toilet combined with an additional functional space, which can be used for various purposes by everyone. We hope that it will be used as an exhibition space, pop-up kiosk, small information center, or cozy meeting space, and become the center of the local community.