Loos flushed with success in contest

JAPAN’S luckiest toilets have received a government award for their spotless appearance in a hard-fought contest among the nation’s prettiest and most practical loos.

A panel including architects and an official from the Japan Toilet Association sifted through nearly 400 applications before settling on two dozen municipalities and companies with the loveliest latrines.

The criteria for the inaugural award consisted of cleanliness, safety, comfortableness, novelty/creativity, and sustainability.

The range of winners included firms that created makeshift toilets after Japan’s 2011 quake-tsunami disaster and the organisers of a toilet-themed art festival. Others got the nod for making female restrooms more attractive, including supplying space for breast-feeding and shortening waiting lines.

Toilets in Japan have been raised to something of an art.

Minister in charge of women’s empowerment, Haruko Arimura, said: “Having public toilets where women feel safe is a sign of the maturity and richness of a society.”

The idea was panned on social media.

“Are restrooms the reason why Japanese women cannot shine?” one Twitter user said.

Another said: “The government is missing the point. They should work more on issues such as the lack of child care facilities.” – AFP