Even if the number of men and women using a building are the same, the number of toilets shouldn’t be, government’s guideline drafts say.

As its name suggests, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has a pretty broad focus, and right now it’s turning its attention to toilets. Specifically, the government entity is turning its attention to the number of toilets in women’s restrooms in Japan, and it says there aren’t enough.

On March 13, the ministry released its preliminary guideline drafts following a study of restroom facilities in train stations, shopping centers, airports, stadiums, and other such facilities, declaring:

“In order to equalize waiting times for men and women, the throughput capacity of men’s and women’s restrooms must be balanced. As a general rule, the standard should be that when the number of male and female restroom users in a facility are roughly equal, a larger number of women’s toilets than men’s should be installed.”

Note that for the purpose of this statement, the ministry is counting both urinals and sit-down toilets as “men’s toilets,” meaning that it’s stance is that for facilities with an equal number of men and women using their restrooms, the number of women’s room toilets should be higher than the combined number of men’s room toilets and urinals. The ministry says its recommendation is based on women’s increased participation in the workforce and other aspects of outside-the-home society, and reflects women’s tendency to need a longer amount of time to use the bathroom than men do.

In a study of 190 train stations, as well as dozens of expressway rest stops, airports, bus terminals, shopping centers, and other facilities, researchers found that men’s room toilets/urinals often outnumber women’s room toilets, though not in all categories.

Number of women’s toilets per men’s toilet/urinal
● Train stations (190 examined): 0.63
●　Expressway rest stops (52 examined): 1.07
● Michi no eki/roadside souvenir shops (50 examined): 0.96
● Airports (35 examined): 0.66
● Cruise ship/ferry terminals (28 examined): 0.77
● Bus terminals (14 examined): 0.71
● Shopping centers (22 examined): 1.19
● Stage theaters/concert halls (13 examined): 1.93
● Sports stadiums (12 examined): 0.98
● Movie theaters (5 examined): 0.89
● Museums (4 examined): 1.02

However, even though women’s toilets outnumber men’s at expressway rest stops, shopping centers, museums, and theaters/concert halls, it’s only the last category that the ministry thinks actually has enough. In its guideline drafts, the ministry says that if a facility has an equal 50/50 split between men and women patrons or passengers, then it should have 1.67 women’s toilets for every men’s toilet/urinal. It’s not until the split in restroom users shifts to 62.5 percent men/37.5 percent women that the ministry believes a 1:1 ratio of men’s to women’s toilets is deemed acceptable.

It’s worth keeping in mind that these are recommendations that the ministry is asking facilities to voluntarily comply with, nor legal requirements with penalties if they’re not followed. In addition, it’s not only women whose restroom experience the ministry wants to improve. The guideline drafts also call on facility operators to increase their number of restroom toilets if they have a large number of elderly patrons, who will also need more time to do their business, or if the facility attracts many families with young children. As a matter of fact, the report calls for building managers to consider increasing the ratio of stalls to urinals in men’s restrooms as well, pointing especially to expressway rest areas’  having twice as many urinals as men’s room stalls as being potentially insufficient in meeting patrons’ pooping needs.

▼ Though it is physically possible to poop in one of these, it’s not at all socially acceptable.

However, simply adding more toilets, to either the women’s or men’s room, isn’t always so easy to do. Particularly in Japan’s urban centers, facilities tend to be densely designed, often with little to no space left for outward expansion. Because of that, increasing the number of stalls may require a complete redesign of the bathroom, an expensive undertaking that would only make the shortage of toilets worse while the renovations are taking place. The draft guidelines do, however, also suggest that facility managers implement real-time digital signage or other means by which to direct patrons to restrooms with open stalls, even on other floors or in other sections of the building, to help reduce waiting times.

The ministry will be soliciting public comments on its guideline drafts this month, with its final recommendations to follow.

Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism via Yahoo! Japan News/Kyodo, Asahi Shimbun
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