Fun The Banheiro Of Okinawa

[David]

Nobody likes public restrooms, it's like rolling dice on whether or not the facilities will be clean. The likelihood of that in Okinawa is quite low, though. A lot of them are well maintained, apart from the usual flooding that occurs because of rainwaters, and even forms of art on the outside.

In keeping with the theme, the first one that I am going to share is titled saikolo (dice).

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I'm uncertain as to why they're called "banheiro" as that's what they always have been labeled on my phone, despite having kanji (Japanese) of "public restroom". But, that just sounded better than, "Hey, here's a bunch of toilets."

 

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[David]

I've visited this one several times while walking my dog at night. It wasn't until earlier this week when I took my daughter to the park when I noticed what exactly it was: The Toitanic (Titanic) of public toilets.

I probably wouldn't have noticed this as I always entered from the aft (stern, or rear of the ship) until we started playing in the toy area that has a view of the bow (front).

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[David]

This one, albeit not the cleanest due to the floodwaters that stays relatively stagnant, is pretty cute. It's not too run down and adds to the great kid's park that it's located in. What's more, it's visible from space and looks like a turtle crawling across land (switch to satellite view below and zoom in to see for yourself)!

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[David]

While going out and exploring Itoman with my wife and dog @Marron today, we passed these ones on our way to Bibi Beach in Itoman to do a fun piece for getting our 250th Facebook like yesterday.

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There were I believe 3 of them in a row down a long park. The first one didn't really catch my eye as anything special, but the second one did as it was peeking out of the bushes and I could recognize what it was from the road–I had to stop for a quick picture.

On an unrelated note, here is my lovely dog that goes along with me.

 

[David]

Haven't updated this one in a while, but, I came across this interesting rocket-shaped bathroom. Like many of the others that I've run across in the past, this one is subtle and blends right in.

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[David]

While in search of a shrine that was inaccessible from park atop a hill with an awesome view of Naha (with a child at least),

http://instagr.am/p/BuvcsLhDv6M/ ​

I finally made it down to the unbeknownst to me, other park, that offers more options to entertain and keep children busy while I was able to explore the shrine. While at the park, though, I took a quick snapshot of this bathroom that looks like a log that has been cut into a smaller segment.

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[David]

In my stops to recent parks, I haven't noticed anything special or out of the ordinary when it comes to public restrooms. I do know that they do add a bit of a theme to the park so to speak. Here are three more "banheiros" that I captured along my journeys in Okinawa (more to come if I find any):

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I ran across this tortoise in a park looking for an alternative Anytime Fitness in Shuri (Naha).

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This is a pretty unique design for Okinawa as I've yet to see a log cabin house here. With as popular as they are in the States, at least in the sticks or in very rural areas such as where I'm from, I would've expected Japanese architectures to create a fake log cabin house. Certainly, there has to be at least one on the island. Have you seen any?

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This one had me pause for a bit. I couldn't quite tell what it was at first and had to get a better look at it from different angles. It's a crab! It could stand alone as being quite a piece of art, but, it's very fitting to be in Manko Park as it's near the wetlands. Don't expect anything there, though. This toilet is pretty much the only thing open for business.