Where I grew up, public toilets were essentially a breeding ground for despair: Brutally unhygienic places littered with dirty needles and various smatterings of human bodily fluids that one doesn't want to think about while writing over breakfast (think of that scene in Trainspotting).
In Japan, things are slightly different. Restrooms are symbolic of the country's world-renowned hospitality culture; places where you're more liable to find plenty of well-stocked paper and aloe vera scented sanitizer than discarded drug paraphernalia. Enter THE TOKYO TOILET, a new project between the Nippon Foundation and the city of Tokyo that strives to uphold these lofty standards by inviting 16 creators from across the world to put their own spin on 17 locations across Shibuya. Somehow, it’s unsurprising that the list of creators tasked with the project includes none other than Nigo.
Found in Harajuku, Nigo’s design is a dainty building that almost looks livable from the outside. It's clean — in both a hygiene and design sense — with some adorable white fencing at both sides that recalls days spent wandering as Ash Ketchum on the Game Boy version of Pokémon. What's more, Nigo has also provided some workwear uniforms for the maintenance staff, which we wouldn't be surprised to find fetching a fortune on Grailed at some point down the line.
You can read more about the TOKYO TOILET and some of the other names involved in the project here. In the meantime, check out a few of the other constructions below.
