Would You Use a Transparent Restroom? - Neatorama

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Tokyo has taken public toilet cleanliness and safety to the next level. Transparent toilets made from coloured glass have been installed in public parks across Japan's capital. But don't be alarmed - once the cubicles are occupied the glass turns opaque to secure privacy. Apart from adding colour to the parks, there are two reasons why the new designs have been a success: people can see how clean they are before going in and they can also see if anyone is secretly waiting inside.
A post shared by The Guardian (@guardian) on Aug 18, 2020 at 9:00am PDT

Shigeru Ban, the architect, says that the new restrooms in a park in Tokyo have "smart glass" that turns opaque when someone is inside.

Do you see someone inside that stall? I do.

Anyway, The Guardian explains that the purpose of using transparent walls, aside from inducing anxiety, is so permit people to know if a stall is unoccupied before attempting to enter:

“There are two concerns with public toilets, especially those located in parks,” it said. “The first is whether it is clean inside, and the second is that no one is secretly waiting inside.”

The glass allegedly becomes opaque after you lock the door. So don't forget to do that.

-via Dave Barry

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You may be in a park, but it may be a relative small park in a high population density, which means that there may be no place "behind" a tree. Highly populated areas have another Eddect: assuming the expected frequency of "behind tree action" and combine it with the expected lifespan of feces, you may arrive at an amount of feces that prevent you from even considering a visit of the park. Big cities, small parks and lots of bowel movement require public toilets.

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Very nice idea. I would not hesitate to use it. Just a sinlge question is bothering me: is the fully transparent state or the opaque state of the glass the one that requires electical power? I just wonder as in case of a power failure will your on ceramic action be visible or will you be covered in opaquness?

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You're in a park. In the outdoors. Just go behind a tree.

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What made them stop selling the boots today?

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They still honor their money-back, lifetime guarantee. I bought a field jacket from L.L.Bean over ten years ago, maybe as long as 15 years. I wore it often and over the years, it got a bit faded, a little frayed, and the buttons cracked and broke and I had to replace them with ones that didn't match as well. This year I was reading about how they honor their guarantee, so I bundled the coat into a box and sent it back explaining how old it was, that I didn't have the receipt, and that it was a great coat, but it was just about worn out. About two weeks later I got an L.L.Bean gift card for $140, the price of the same coat today, so I promptly ordered the same model and style (with free shipping). The only thing it cost me was the $7 or $8 to mail in the old one.

That's some great customer service...

http://cmpalmer.blogspot.com/2007/11/great-customer-service-or-should-i-be.html

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@MikeH: No, I think they still sell the boots.

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They still sell the boots, by the boat load. And they do have a 100% satisfaction guarentee, if you are not 100% satisfied you can return ANYTHING at ANYTIME, as Christopher notes above.

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People are missing Matt's subtle jab at the wording in the posting which implies that L.L.Bean continued (past tense) to sell the boots until today, i.e. something has changed and they no longer sell the boots. The sentence should read something like "...and continue to sell the boots today."

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whoops, I menat MikeH, not Matt. Sorry!

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Thanks, Sid. My wife got it, too.

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Gee Sid, can you find anything else wrong? The company is good for their word, isn't that enough without playing word police? Always a troll somewhere.

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