April 5, 2001

9:54 AM

It's time to potty. First, you might want to drop in on the Toilet Museum. If you're in Tokyo, the Tokyo Toilet Map may come in handy, although the data's a tad stale. Japanese-style toilets are different, but not too difficult to use. Turkish toilets are also different. Just remember to be neat about it and you'll be a-okay!
posted by hijinx (6 comments total)

Great links. It reminds me of when I spent six months wandering throughout SE Asia, where the squat toilet was the norm. Sometimes a western style toilet would appear, and it would so confuse the locals that you would see footprints on top of the seat as a result of their attempts to use it in the usual method.

This led to the invention (in Singapore or Malaysia, I can't remember which) of an ultrawide toilet seat with side footstools.

Also interesting were the train toilets in Indonesia, where you could look straight through the hole onto the rushing tracks below. It made for an airy experience when the train was really moving....
posted by mtstover at 10:30 AM on April 5, 2001

BestToilets.com lists public restrooms in major US cities. I send it to all my pregnant friends :-).
posted by girlhacker at 10:48 AM on April 5, 2001

Sometimes I'm glad for my obsessive/compulsive germ fetish which keeps me out of 98.5% of public restrooms.
posted by Dreama at 10:53 AM on April 5, 2001

Also interesting were the train toilets in Indonesia, where you could look straight through the hole onto the rushing tracks below. It made for an airy experience when the train was really moving....

Sorry to disillusion you, but this is still the norm. even on trains in Western Europe (save the TGV).
posted by ParisParamus at 9:15 PM on April 5, 2001

In our part of the world, you shit on a shelf.
posted by pracowity at 11:42 PM on April 5, 2001

Why do I suddenly feel like I'm reading Memepool?
posted by werty at 7:21 AM on April 6, 2001