When faced with two doors with signs in kanji, no English in sight and no colours to differentiate by, how does one know which is the men’s and which is the women’s? Remember this adage: The man is the one with a rice field for a head (男), and the woman has her legs crossed (女).

 

Once you've made it past the entrance, you may be faced with another dilemma when the individual stalls have strange characters: 和 and 洋. The first, with the box that could easily represent a hole in the ground, means “Japanese style,” and behind that door you’ll find a squat toilet. The second, with the drops on the left and the toilet brush on the right, means “western style,” and behind that door you’ll find the familiar commode.

 

Or perhaps not so familiar, because many toilets in Japan are high tech, with washlets including seat warmers, bidets, and even a little blow dryer for post-bidet use. Three options here, then: Look up a guide to see what the buttons mean; experiment and get ready for a surprise; or just ignore them and use the toilet as normal.

 

Another fixture you will often find in women's public toilets is the 音姫 "oto-hime," or "sound princess," which can be either a panel on the wall or a button on the washlet control panel. The wall panel may be either a button or a motion sensor, and when triggered it will play a flushing sound for 20-30 seconds for privacy.