Latest technology to “provide healing and surprise”.
There are a lot of clean, modern public toilets in Japan, but some of them are so exceptional they become legendary. One of these legendary toilets can be found inside Tokyo Station, where the new “Gransta Tokyo” commercial facility opened up to the public in August last year.
This refurbished area includes the “Square Zero” event space, within the ticket gates around the north passage, where exhibits promoting regional areas and festivals are displayed.
▼ When we visited the event space, the gods Fujin and Raijin were hanging about to promote Aomori’s Nebuta festival.
The new area is sparklingly beautiful, with unusual decorative elements like this clock that shows all the numbers as “0”. This is a hat-tip to the fact that Tokyo Station is the zero-mile marker for a number of train lines around Japan.
Zero miles is also zero kilometres, so you’ll be able to find a number of “zero kilometre posts” scattered around Tokyo Station, if you keep an eye out for them.
However, we’re not here to talk about zero-mile or zero-kilometre markers today, as we’re here to visit the unique toilet, which is known as the “Tokyo Station Waterscape Toilet“. As the name suggests, this public loo is all about enjoying the beauty of water, and this one uses the latest technology to “provide healing and surprise”.
The bathroom is easy to spot on the B1 level of Gransta, as its glowing lights catch the eye as you walk past, enticing you to enter, regardless of whether nature is truly calling you or not.
Stepping towards the bathroom is more like entering an aquarium, with this stunning water feature at the entranceway.
Like many of Japan’s top-of-the-range, high-tech, posh public toilets, this restroom has a display indicating how many stalls are available. When we visited the men’s room, three out of four stalls were unoccupied.
Once you step inside, you’re greeted by two beautiful panels of flowing water above the washbasins, which make you feel as if you’re in the company of a soothing waterfall.
The water theme continues inside the toilet stalls, where you’ll find different images of beautiful waterscapes from all over Japan.
Metal plaques make you feel as if you’re in a museum, although rather than explain the accompanying images, they explain the toilet’s “waterscape” concept, with the suggestion: “Why don’t you set out to view beautiful waterside scenery on your next trip?”
Sitting inside a stall as beautiful as this one, and surrounded by water views as stunning as these, we found we really were inspired to book a watery getaway. For now, though, we were happy to enjoy these water views, which helped us to truly relax and drop the kids off at the pool, so to speak.
One other thing that makes these restrooms great is the fact that they’re a little out of the way, so there weren’t any queues at either the men’s or the women’s when we visited. It’s a fantastic place to relieve yourself in comfort, surrounded by sleek white interiors, soothing waterscapes, and top-of-the-range technology.
At the moment, this restroom, which users have lauded as “legendary”, remains a little-known secret at the station, so be sure to head on over to the B1 floor of Gransta Tokyo, near Square Zero, to enjoy it before it becomes too popular.
Tokyo Station is actually a good spot to keep in mind when you’re needing to drop a deuce in the city, as there are pay-to-use restrooms there as well, which are pretty much guaranteed to be queue-free. And that’s always a blessing for those in a hurry.
Related: Gransta Tokyo
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