Media personality’s comment sparks discussion about common occurrence.

Like a lot of people, visits to the bathroom on my first few trips to Japan were a source of a lot of surprises, from “Whoa, this toilet is so high-tech that it has a heated seat and washes your backside for you!” to “Whoa…this toilet is basically just a hole in the ground…” One surprise, though, wasn’t what I encountered in the restroom, but who. As I sauntered up to a urinal and unzipped my pants to take care of business, a janitor came in and started cleaning the sink right next to me, and it was a woman.

Female cleaning staff working in in-operation men’s restrooms aren’t an uncommon occurrence in Japan. Clean System, a Japanese cleaning services company, says that its data shows that women make up approximately 70 percent of the janitorial staff in Japan, in large part because relatively few men apply for such positions. Especially in situations where a facility only employs or contracts for a single janitor, there’s a good chance that it’ll end up being a woman who cleans the men’s room.

However, while this isn’t an unusual occurrence, it’s not necessarily one that everyone feels comfortable with. In October, Japanese media personality Atsushi Tamura tweeted “I might be the only one who feels this way, but I really don’t like it when the janitor in a men’s restroom is a woman,” adding that while he sincerely appreciated the work being done, the situation made him feel uncomfortable and uneasy.

Again, encountering female cleaning staff in men’s restroom is something that pretty much every guy in Japan will experience many times in their life, but Tamura voicing his dislike of the scenario had many online commenters saying that they aren’t all that crazy about it either, and that’s backed up by a survey performed by Clean System and the Japan Restroom Association. Though it’s not clear exactly when the data was collected, it was brought up on a segment of the Abema News program following Tamura’s tweet. In the survey of 756 men and women, roughly three out of four men expressed some degree of discomfort about having a female janitor cleaning the men’s room.

● Men’s feelings about female janitors in men’s restroom
Opposed to the idea: 13.9 percent
Moderately opposed: 31 percent
Not so strongly opposed: 28.2 percent
Not opposed at all: 27 percent

To clarify, Tamura’s stance wasn’t that female janitors are defiling spaces meant for men, nor is he directing any of his displeasure at the workers themselves. His feelings, and ostensibly also those of the men in the survey whose opinions align with his, appear to be more that he feels awkward doing all that performing bathroom bodily functions entails with a lady in the vicinity.

However, Tamura’s comments also prompted some commenters to say that it’s likely no picnic for female janitors to spend part of their workday in the men’s room either, but they’re in their as part of trying to earn a living at that particular moment, and so by comparison any discomfort that men may feel is of lesser importance. Incidentally, the survey also asked how women feel about the scenario of having a male janitor in the women’s restroom. This is a much less common scenario in Japan, and not surprisingly an overwhelming majority of the female respondents said they don’t like the idea.

● Women’s feelings about male janitors in women’s restroom
Opposed to the idea: 43.7 percent
Moderately opposed: 39.3 percent
Not so strongly opposed: 11.6 percent
Not opposed at all: 5.4 percent

For what it’s worth, Tamura’s tweet has more of the feeling of an off-the-cuff remark, not a serious call for cleaning industry practices to change, and it’s likely that female janitors in men’s restrooms will remain common for at least the near future.

Source: Abema Times via Tele Asa News via Golden Times
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Pakutaso
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