Japanese public toilet in Tokyo has windows that change colour when you use it

Join us as we use one of Japan’s most unusual restrooms.

Public toilets in Japan have been known to impress visitors, but in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, you’ll find 17 restrooms that are on a whole other level. Designed by 16 creative professionals from around the world, these restrooms were created as part of a project called The Tokyo Toilet, which overhauled old restrooms and transformed them into more welcoming public spaces.

▼ One of the most stunning is a toilet known as the “Transparent Toilet, because, well, its windows are see-through.

This unusual restroom, which first opened to the public in 2020, is located in Yoyogi Fukamachi Kokoen, and can be easily accessed from Exit 3 of Yoyogi-koen Station.

The previous toilets at this little park were previously uninviting, but now they’re so stunning that tourists from overseas even make the trip to use them.

Designed by architect Shigeru Ban, these toilets were inspired by a skeleton, and there’s nowhere to hide as you can tell at a glance whether there are any suspicious persons hiding in it or not and you can also tell whether it’s clean or not.

▼ Certainly nowhere to hide here.

It’s absolutely stunning to look at, but it actually has a few drawbacks, which our reporter Masanuki Sunakoma discovered upon visiting it recently. The first thing is, well, it can be embarrassing to use the toilet, seeing as it’s become so famous that tourists and passersby stop to photograph it.

Mustering up his courage, and ignoring the photographers nearby, Masanuki opened the glass door to the toilet.

Once he was inside, he turned to lock the door, and breathed a sigh of relief when the transparent glass became frosted, making it impossible for the people outside to see inside.

Apparently, this glass wall maintains its transparent state with the help of energy — when you lock the door, the power is removed and the door becomes opaque. It was fascinating to see it in action, and just to check it really was working, Masanuki took a video from outside, which proved that it really was impossible to see inside.

According to reports he’d heard, though, there seems to have been an issue in the winter where it took a long time for the glass to become opaque, and currently they are switching between transparent and opaque modes every six months. Apparently, the particles that become opaque solidify as the temperature drops.

Thankfully for Masanuki, it was midsummer when he visited so he didn’t encounter any problems. And with another transparent toilet just a five-minute walk away, at Haruno Ogawa Community Park, this is definitely a site worth visiting.

▼ The Haruno Ogawa Community Park toilet uses the same technology, but with brighter blue-and-green hues.

With two of Japan’s most unique public restrooms within walking distance of each other, this part of Shibuya is the place to go when you need to pee. And that’s not all, as there’s another restroom in the area that looks more like a restaurant, and all the toilets in the Tokyo Toilet Project can be visited in a “Tokyo Toilet Tour” that’s proving to be popular with foreign tourists. And if visiting them isn’t enough, you can watch Perfect Days, an award-winning film about the toilets directed by Wim Wenders, which will make you cry…and want to pee.

Toilet Locations

Yoyogi Fukamachi Small Park Toilet / 代々木深町小公園トイレ
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Tomigaya 1-54-1
東京都渋谷区富ケ谷1丁目54-1

Haruno Ogawa Community Park Toilet / はるのおがわコミュニティパークトイレ
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Yoyogi 5-68-1
東京都渋谷区代々木5丁目68-1

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