Is it difficult to find a free toilet in Japan?

Is it difficult to find a usable free toilet in Japan? No, free public toilets are very easy to find throughout Japan.

Where can you find toilets in Japan?

Drinking water and other liquids is essential to keep hydrated in any travel. However, it can be a reason for concern if you keep keep drinking water and not have a toilet nearby!

The good news is that in Japan you can always find a toilet nearby. Every train or subway station has a public toilet which you can use for free. Also, shopping centers and museums all have free toilets you can use.

Cafes and restaurants also have available toilets, which are free, but please keep in mind that is polite to buy something.

It is also possible to find public toilets in many random places in most of the major cities I visited (like Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya, or Hiroshima).

So drinking water in Japan is not a problem, you can easily find a toilet for free in most of the places you visit.

 

How clean are the toilets?

In most of the places I visited, it is very difficult to find a clean public toilet. This is not the case in Japan. Toilets in Japan are impressively clean!

Even in public places like train stations or subway stations, all toilets are very clean.

This is due not only to regular cleaning of the toilets, but also because the culture in Japan is that everyone is responsible to keep their environment clean and safe. So, whoever gets something dirty, will make an effort to clean it.

The result?

Bathrooms that are a pleasure to use.

Traditional Japanese vs western-style toilets

I didn't know there were Japanese-style toilets before I visited the Japan!

Bathrooms throughout the country have a mix of traditional and western style toilets.

The traditional Japanese toilets are an advanced version of the "whole in the ground". In fact, although these may seem weird to westerners, it is actually the most natural way to use a toilet.

If you get confused on how to use these toilets, there are clear instructions!

This contrasts with the western style, which are the "throne-style", like this one:

Most of the toilets I found were western-style, but in some public places (e.g., close to public gardens) some of these toilets were Japanese-style.

There are no issues in using them, it just requires an adaptation for westerners, which are not usually used to the traditional Japanese toilets.

The Japanese toilet seats

Most of the toilets I used while in Japan were western-style, anda there is usually a clear separation between the toilet area and the bath area. Most of the times these are separate cabins inside the same bathroom.

Since space in Japan is at premium and the Japanese are very clean and like to have a bidet, they came up with a way to combine the bidet into the toilet.

It is very common to find in hotels and houses toilets in which the seat has the bidet included.

This means that the seat is connected to a water source which shoots water to you after you've done your business!

 

Some are even more fancy and have bidet but also open automatically, like the one I saw in Nagoya:

 

This is very cleaver and it impressed me a lot, since we don't really see this in the western world.

 

Conclusion

In Japan it is very easy to find a toilet nearby. Every train or subway station, shopping enter, or museum have public toilets which are free to use.

Toilets in Japan are very clean, even in crowded places like train stations.

There are traditional Japanese toilets which are an advanced version of the "whole in the ground", contrasting with western style, which are more "throne-style".

It is very common to find in most hotels and houses toilet in which the seat has the bidet included in the toilet seat.