Pull in and surround yourself with the sights and sounds of racing cars at this very unique pit stop.
When you’re out driving on Japan’s motorways, you’ll come across two kinds of highway rest stops, marked as either PA (Parking Area) or SA (Service Area) on road signs and navigation systems.
Service Areas are often the more popular choice to stop for drivers, due to their larger size and wider variety of food options and amenities, but now there’s a parking area in Mie Prefecture’s Suzuka City that everyone wants to stop at, given it has a toilet that looks, and sounds, like this:
This public toilet, filmed in action by Twitter user @take_sakumayu, is one of the many highlights awaiting motorsports enthusiasts at the shiny new “Pit Suzuka” Parking Area, which just opened to the public on 17 March.
Suzuka City is home to the world-famous Suzuka Racing Circuit, and the new parking area pays homage to the world of motorsports with unique touches that include a racing car at the entrance…
▼ …handprints of Grand Prix drivers…
▼ …merchandise collections…
…and a display of leather racing suits made by Kushitani, a famous brand from Hamamatsu Prefecture.
▼ But what’s really blowing people away are the unusual restrooms, which are adorned in images from the Suzuka Circuit.
▼ “Are you ready?” takes on a whole new meaning at this pit stop.
When you reverse into a stall here, you’ll be sitting in your very own lane, so you can imagine racing against “drivers” in the other stalls.
While the inside of the toilet stall looks unusual, what makes it even more unique is its otohime button. In Japan, otohime buttons are usually used to cover the noise of any embarrassing toilet emissions by playing a continual flushing sound when pressed. Here at Pit Suzuka, though, the otohime button fills the stall with the sound of racing cars instead.
People online are now planning their journeys to Suzuka City so they can park their rears at the unusual pit stop by the Shin-Meishin Expressway.
So next time you’re travelling between Mie and Hyogo Prefectures, be sure to refuel and recharge at Pit Suzuka. Then you might want to try out this service area at Hyogo, where you can have your meal chosen for you from a gacha capsule toy vending machine!
Parking Area Information
Pit Suzuka / ピットスズカ
Address: Mie-ken, Suzuka-shi, Yamamotocho 709
三重県鈴鹿市山本町709
Website
Source, featured image: Twitter/@take_sakumayu
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!