A Night Less Ordinary: Toilet Hotel Japan
In this weekly series, we scour the world in search of the most weird and wonderful hotels. From cave hotels to converted prisons, capsule pods to underwater guestrooms, you can expect only the unexpected. This week, our number one choice is this Toilet Hotel Japan.
What’s the gimmick? Where else can one enjoy room service while on the toilet than in Japan? The Nakanoshima Hotel (a.k.a. the world’s worst honeymoon idea) is a small, but luxurious, fully functioning public bathroom. Located in downtown Osaka, fenced by two rushing rivers, this one-room facility boasts an ivory-sheeted bed, a stylish desk, fresh-cut flowers and a prominent opening in the wall marked with a male figure on the right and female on the left. Through this opening, a stream of citizens flow in hopes of emptying their bladders.
You should read: Top weird ways to travel on holiday
Why stay? Stay if the idea of waking up to a cleaner mopping up urine from the tiles is intriguing to you. This hotel is less a place to spend an uncomfortable night and more a piece of tongue-in-cheek public art. Crafted by Tatzu Nishi (the guy who put a room six storeys high in New York’s Columbus statue), the hotel is his celebration of the everyman’s commode. On the other hand, it is thoroughly disinfected and designed to be comfortable even though you can still hear people using the toilet in the other side of the wall.
The Wow Factor: Although this is the part in which we usually tell of high-class spas and ultra snazzy decor, this is a toilet for God’s sake, there’s not really much of a wow going on here…
You should read: A Night Less Ordinary : Boot Bed ‘n’ Breakfast