Toilet Index: what to expect from toilets abroad
Sources: Yamanashi Tourism Organization (Official Travel Guide Yamanashi), Fukuoka City, Japan Restroom Industry Association (日本レストルーム工業会)
Expect a seated toilet, often with an electronic bidet seat. Japan's national tourism body says squat toilets can still be found at some train stations and old-fashioned izakaya bars.
Varies by venueWhere this applies: Squat toilets: some train stations and old-fashioned izakaya bars
At a squat toilet, face the rounded hood at one end of the pan, squat over it, then flush with the lever or button.
Where this applies: Yamanashi Prefecture (official visitor guide)
JR Central announced in April 2018 that every toilet inside the Shinkansen ticket gates at all 17 Tokaido Shinkansen stations would become a seated toilet with a warm-water washing seat, in use by about June 2020.
Where this applies: Tokaido Shinkansen stations, inside the Shinkansen ticket gates
Fukuoka City is converting its park toilets so that each has at least one seated stall, and aims to finish by fiscal 2030. Until then, check the stalls for a seated one.
Varies by venueWhere this applies: Fukuoka City park toilets
Many stations and parks also have a spacious accessible toilet with a sliding, wheelchair-friendly door, wall-mounted grab bars and emergency buttons or cords. Equipment differs from one toilet to the next: Narita Airport tells passengers to check its terminal lists.
Varies by venueWhere this applies: Stations and parks; equipment example from Narita Airport
If you need a seat: If you need a seat, look for the accessible toilet marked with the wheelchair pictogram: Japan's national tourism body says many stations and parks have one, with grab bars. In older blocks that mix both types, check each stall, as the seated one may be a single stall.
Accessible toilets: not covered yet.
Carry tissues for park toilets. Fukuoka City says it does not, as a rule, stock toilet paper in its park toilets, and is only trialling it in a few parks, mostly in Hakata and Chuo wards.
Varies by venueWhere this applies: Fukuoka City park toilets
Other councils do supply paper: Koto City in Tokyo restocks toilet paper in its public toilets at each cleaning, normally once a day, six days a week.
Varies by venueWhere this applies: Koto City (Tokyo) public toilets
Flush used toilet paper; do not put it in the bin. Yamanashi's official visitor guide says the paper provided dissolves in water and should go down the toilet, at seated and squat toilets alike.
Where this applies: Yamanashi Prefecture (official visitor guide)
Sapporo's public health office gives hotels and inns multilingual stickers that say the same: do not throw toilet paper in the bin, flush it. The city made them because visitors were binning used paper.
Where this applies: Sapporo hotels and inns
Flush only the toilet paper supplied. Nagano City tells users of its public toilets never to flush anything else that could block the pan, such as nappies.
Where this applies: Nagano City public toilets
On a bidet-seat control panel, find the stop button (a solid square, labelled 止) before pressing anything else. Since 2017 Japan's toilet makers have shared eight standard symbols: lid, seat, large flush, small flush, rear wash, bidet wash, dry and stop. Older panels may differ.
Varies by venueWhere this applies: Electronic bidet seats; standard symbols on new models from fiscal 2017
The flush is not always a lever. Sapporo's toilet stickers show three kinds: push a lever, hold a hand over a sensor, or press a button.
Varies by venueWhere this applies: Sapporo hotels and inns
Flushes come in two strengths, large (dai) and small (sho). Panels may also have a button that plays a sound for privacy, and some cisterns have a tap on top for rinsing hands as the tank refills.
Signs in public-transport facilities use standard pictograms for toilets, men, women and accessible facilities. The transport ministry's guideline suggests a cool colour for the men's figure and a warm colour for the women's.
Where this applies: Public-transport facilities
Carry a small towel or handkerchief: a long-running travel guide reports that paper towels or hand dryers are not always provided in public washrooms.
Varies by venueWhere this applies: Public washrooms (travel-guide report, not an official source)
Japan's national tourism body describes public washrooms in train stations and other venues as widely available and free to use.
Where this applies: Train stations and other public venues
On Mt. Fuji, carry 100-yen coins. The official climbing site says to bring plenty for huts and toilets, and an environment ministry notice from 2014 put the tip asked at trail toilets at about 100 to 300 yen.
Varies by venueWhere this applies: Mt. Fuji climbing trails
In Kyoto, the city subsidises private owners at busy sights who open their toilets to visitors as 'tourist toilets': 59 sites as of September 2026. Hours are set per site; the one at Kinkaku-ji is open 8:30 to 16:30.
Varies by venueWhere this applies: Kyoto City
Where shoes come off indoors, such as traditional inns, the restroom usually has its own pair of slippers. Change into them at the door and leave them there when you come out.
Where this applies: Places where shoes are removed indoors, such as traditional inns
On Mt. Fuji, use only the toilets along the trail and at mountain huts, and carry a portable toilet for emergencies, taking it back down with you after use.
Where this applies: Mt. Fuji climbing trails
Seen something different in Japan? Email us what changed, where and when you saw it.
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