More Tokyo Toilets
John Hill
6. July 2021
Nabeshima Shoto Park Toilet by Kengo Kuma (Photo courtesy of the Nippon Foundation)
Last summer we learned about public toilets designed by Tadao Ando, Shigeru Ban, and others popping up over Tokyo's Shibuya district. They have been joined by a "toilet village" at Nabeshima Shoto Park designed by Kengo Kuma, the latest facility in the Nippon Foundation's Tokyo Toilet project.
The Tokyo Toilet project follows from the disparity between toilets being "a symbol of Japan's world-renowned hospitality culture" and public toilets in Tokyo being limited in their use due to "stereotypes stereotypes that they are dark, dirty, smelly, and scary," The project involves the renovation of seventeen public toilets in Shibuya that are maintained regularly by the Nippon Foundation, the Shibuya City Government, and the Shibuya Tourism Association. The first toilets opened in August 2020, when we first reported on the project, and the latest, by Kengo Kuma, opened last month, on June 24th. The whole project is expected to be completed by March 2022.
Jumpei Sasakawa, Executive Director of the Nippon Foundation (left) with Kengo Kuma (right) in front of the new public toilet in Nabeshima Shoto Park (Photo courtesy of the Nippon Foundation)
To learn more, visit the Tokyo Toilet website and watch — until the end — this short film featuring Jumpei Sasakawa, Executive Director of the Nippon Foundation, explaining the Tokyo Toilet project:
