KITAKYUSHU, Japan – In 1982, a peculiar commercial aired on televisions across Japan. An actress in a pink floral dress and an updo drops paint on her hand and futilely attempts to wipe it off with ...

Step into any public restroom stall in Japan and you’re likely to be enveloped in a soundscape. No, not that kind. It’s the babble of running water, perhaps peppered with cheerful tweets and birdsong, ...

TOKYO - The Japan Tourism Agency intends to establish a subsidy system that encourages municipalities to update public washrooms with Western-style toilets in tourist areas, to address the recent ...

In public places across Japan, older floor-level toilets still appear with some regularity. They sit low to the ground, set into tiled floors, and look unfamiliar to many visitors. What often causes ...