By YUJI MASUYAMA/ Staff Writer
November 7, 2025 at 17:26 JST
Honorary Japan Toilet Association chair Junko Kobayashi speaks during an expert meeting she led at the transport ministry building on Nov. 6. (Shun Niekawa)
The transport ministry plans to establish guidelines on the actual number of toilets that women's restrooms at railway stations and other public facilities should have to alleviate long lines.
Data compiled by the ministry shows that for every toilet in the men's room, there is only a comparable 0.63 in the women's restroom.
This inequity of seats carries over to 0.66 in airports, 0.71 at bus terminals and 0.77 at passenger ship terminals.
The ministry presented the results of a sample survey conducted through industry groups at an experts’ meeting held on Nov. 6.
Among the 11 types of facilities compared, those with more toilets in women's restrooms spanned theaters and halls with 1.93 seats, commercial facilities with 1.19, expressway service areas with 1.07 and museums with 1.02.
About half of the women who responded to a questionnaire about dissatisfaction with restrooms at various locations cited "waiting in line" as an issue at stations, other transportation facilities and large commercial complexes.
Railway stations ranked the highest at 55.2 percent, an increase of 11.2 percent from a 2016 survey.
The ministry believes the context of the issue lies in the advancement of women in society and facilities built on the premise that men would use them more, leading to a mismatch in terms of actual usage.
It also attributes longer occupancy times to the rise of bidet-equipped toilets as improving comfort as well as women taking time for grooming.
“Until now, we’ve almost given up on solving the issue of waiting for the bathroom, thinking it was impossible to dig deeper," said Junko Kobayashi, honorary chairperson of the Japan Toilet Association, during the meeting of experts she chaired.
She continued, "I want to express respect for the government taking this issue seriously. I hope we can have various discussions in this valuable forum until a clear direction emerges.”
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