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posted by Fnord666 on Monday August 24 2020, @03:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the peek-a-poo dept.

Japan: See-through public toilets open in Tokyo parks:

Transparent public toilets which light up "like a beautiful lantern" have been installed in Tokyo.

The see-through loos have opened in two parks in Shibuya, a commercial part of the Japanese capital which is renowned for its shopping facilities and quality of nightlife.

The toilets use coloured "smart glass" which turns opaque when they are occupied.

The glass technology has been used so people can identify whether the toilet is clean - and if anyone is currently inside.

Users have already said how, once inside the toilet, they cannot tell if the glass is opaque or not - giving them the strange feeling they are on display while spending a penny.

[...] There are plans to open more of the transparent toilets across the same neighbourhood by next spring.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Immerman on Monday August 24 2020, @05:17PM (4 children)

    by Immerman (3985) on Monday August 24 2020, @05:17PM (#1041195)

    I've got to wonder, if these things are switchably opaque, why on earth would they make them one-way? I would guess that most people would be at least a little uncomfortable watching crowds walk by as they do their thing. Doubly so if they're not completely certain whether the crowds can see them back. And since most of the "smart glass" style technology provides bi-directional opacity anyway, it would seem that the designers had to go out of their way to make "crowd-watching" possible.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2020, @06:59PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2020, @06:59PM (#1041276)

    From the pictures, it appears to be imperfect opacity, so more like a 1-way mirror sort of effect. Or, I think the effect is partially due to it being much brighter outside and much darker inside the bathrooms. So I wonder if it works at all at night... which could be another design goal - limit vandalism (or privacy) by illuminating them at night (Assuming the park is closed / no-one would use one at night anyway.)

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2020, @07:09PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2020, @07:09PM (#1041279)

      Technically, that's how all one-way mirrors work. Its just a half silvered mirror and the effect is dependent on one room being darker than the other. Swap which room is dark and which is bright and it still works the same.

      • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday August 25 2020, @07:04AM

        by deimtee (3272) on Tuesday August 25 2020, @07:04AM (#1041520) Journal

        Simple ones maybe. Nowadays they back the silver with black - one side has a strong reflection that swamps the image, while the other doesn't.
        They make the whole thing about 90% opaque and with equal lighting on both sides one side will have a (10% dimmer) reflection, while the other will have a dim (10%) image through the mirror. Provided it is not swamped by the 90% reflection, 10% provides a quite adequate image.

        --
        If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
    • (Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday August 25 2020, @01:51PM

      by sjames (2882) on Tuesday August 25 2020, @01:51PM (#1041587) Journal

      Whichever of those is true, it's not going to fly for long. Eventually, the thing will fail to go opaque and the person inside won't know (because you can always see out). Shortly after that news gets out they'll become an odd bit of abandoned urban sculpture.

      At the very least, they need a small mirror on the outside facing in so you can tell when the glass is actually opaque to the outside.