Toilets in Japan: Everything You Need to Know

We visited Japan earlier this year. We visited several places in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka. The toilets in Japan were the best ever! We saw different kinds of toilets, mostly high-tech and bidet operated. A few toilets had only Japanese text and no accompanying images. So, our Japanese travel guide Miho-san later taught us the different Kanji words used for toilets in bathrooms across Japan.

Japanese toilets in Tokyo

What does a typical Japanese toilet look like?

There are different types of toilets in Japan. Many of the toilets are washlets that have bidets. These washlets come with various features.

A few of these toilets have wash basins over the flush. There are toilets where the wash basins are separated from the toilet piece.

At one point, we did see a traditional hole-in-the-ground toilet. These are rare and mostly in old buildings and places.

Japanese Kanji text for toilet flush

We encountered a few toilets with only Japanese text on the buttons. There were no symbols or English text or anything universal to indicate what the buttons did.

Memorize these words before using a toilet in Japan.

大 -- Flush for Poop

大 is the Japanese word for large, and means large flush, aka flush for poop.

小 -- Flush for Pee

小 is the Japanese word for small, and in the toilet context, means small flush for pee.

This toilet below had instructions only in Japanese. No diagrams or anything to hint what the buttons meant.

Toilet with only Japanese text in Tokyo

Now, you know what the 大 and 小 buttons mean!

Toilet button panel with only Japanese text for flush levels

These two toilets below had instructions in Japanes and also in English and symbols, so it was easy to tell what they did.

Japanese toilet button panel in Tokyo with Japanese and English

Another toilet button panel in Tokyo with Japanese and English

List of Symbols on Japanese Toilets

This diagram has more officially accepted symbols you see on toilet buttons.

Japanese Washlet Toilet in a Tokyo hotel

Many of the toilets we used in hotels were washlet toilets. They were almost all of the TOTO brand and had bidet features. These are usually the top of the technology and had different features, including seat warmers.

This toilet was in the first hotel we stayed in. Looks like a regular toilet, with a manual flush, but had a ton of features, including a wash basin on the top.

When you wash your hands, the water goes into the flush container and is used for the next flush. It is a great water saving technique that I wish toilets worldwide would adapt.

The tap (faucet) in the wash basin was motion-activated.

This toilet also appeard to be motion-activated. When you approach the toilet, the seat light would turn on and the seat would start warming up! This was something new and we had never experienced earlier.

The flush was a universal regular flush that you find everywhere else.

Washlet toilets in Tokyo

For this toilet, we did not have to worry much about the instructions written in Japanese because everything was straightforward. Great UX. 👏

Japanese Washlet Toilet in a Kyoto hotel

We stayed in a hotel in Kyoto and this hotel had more elaborate toilets and bathrooms than the previous one in Tokyo.

The hand wash sink was separated from the toilet. The toilet had a bidet, of course, and multiple options for flush.

It also included separate flush options for pee and poop. Obviously, there would be more water used for poop and less for pee. There was also a drying option with multiple levels of the fan speed and force.

Like most other toilets in Japan, this toilet had the option to set the temperature of the water.

The bidet also spray the water with varying speeds and pressure, and direction, depending on whether you're a male user (in the back) vs female user (in the front).

There was also an option to warm up and dry the butt after flush.

Washlet with separate wash basin in hotel in Kyoto

On the side were these buttons. The instructions were in Japanese, English, Braille and signs.

Washlet with separate wash basin in hotel in Kyoto

All washlets came with toilet paper, but which are used only for drying up. The toilet paper quality is below average and they are very thin, but their purpose is for drying and not cleaning up, so that's understandable.

Japanese Washlet Toilet in an Osaka hotel

In the hotel we stayed in Osaka, this was what the toilet and button panel looked like.

Toilet in Osaka hotel

The hotels, people and environment in Osaka appeared to be more cosmpolitan and touristy while retaining their tradition plus culture. We did see a lot of directions in English accompanied by symbols.

Japanese Manual Bidet / Flush Toilets

You will find western type toilets with the manual flush in older businesses and homes in Japan.

You do your business and then manually press the flush.

These kind of toilets would have been installed decades ago and are usually replaced by automatic bidet washlet toilets, which is seen as an upgrade.

Traditional Japanese Squat Toilet

We saw this traditional squat hole-in-the ground toilet in the area around Mount Fuji. These toilets are also known as Washiki Toire and were common until the 1960s.

Traditional Japanese toilet near Mount Fuji

You usually find them in rural areas and older residential and government buildings.

🚅 Toilets in the Shinkansen (Bullet Train)

The toilets in the Sinkansen, also known as the Bullet Train, were incredibly clean and very high-tech just like in the hotels and businesses we went to. They were very well maintained.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I did not get to take a photo of it, but I will do it on our next visit to Japan.

Urinals for men

The urinals were full length, and every urinal had support for the physically challenged and people with disabilities.

Male urinals in Japan

These toilets were well maintained, and you find them every few blocks in most of the touristy spots.

Toilet support for people with disabilities

I was very impressed by the way the Japanese took care of everything. There was support for people with disabilities. As you can see in the male urinals, they had support for standing.

Toilets with bidet had extra support for sitting down as well.

The toilet buttons had instructions in Braille.

And this is not toilet-related, but the sidewalks or pavements as well as any walking space had yellow Braille markers for people who are visually challenged for use with their walking sticks. This is very inclusive.

Where are the paper towels?

There were no paper towels in any of the toilets -- public toilets, hotels or airports -- that we visited.

The general expection is to bring a small hand cloth towel to dry your hands or use the air dryer.

What if you want to use toilets and with toilet paper instead of bidet?

Yes, you can. Every toilet had toilet paper rolls. The only problem is that the toilet paper is very thin because it is meant for drying up. It is thinner than the toilet paper in any gas station in the US, for comparison. You don't really want to use it for your business.

How do I translate this Japanese text on the wall to English?

Install Google Translate. Using the camera app on your phone, you can use Google Translate to translate Japanese text to English and vice versa. You can also speak English into Google Translate and have the app translate it aloud in Japanese.

This was one way we conversed with the hotel and restaurant staff who spoke only Japanese. They also communicated with us using Google Translate or another native Japanese app.

After We Came Back to the USA

After our trip back to the US, I was a little sad at missing the bidets and other features. We looked up information on how to get a bidet and washlet for our house. We will probably have a washlet installed some day.

If you have visited Japan and have fallen in love with Japanese toilets, do share your experiences below. Thanks for reading!

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If you have any questions, please contact me at arulbOsutkNiqlzziyties@gNqmaizl.bkcom. You can also post questions in our Facebook group. Thank you.