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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.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday August 24 2020, @05:55PM (6 children)
Japanese culture tends to be very repressive of sexuality in real life, which in turn creates an industry of media (and, in seedier areas, experiences for a fee) that caters to those unfulfilled desires. This ranges from salarymen who can't take time to date, to people from very traditional families that end up in arranged marriages that they may not find fulfilling, to hikikomori who are rejecting social contact, to women who are considered too old to find love by the time they turn 25 or so.
This isn't a strictly Japanese phenomenon, of course: For instance, the people who view porn the most in the US and seem to really like the very kinky stuff are in the Bible Belt, while in more liberal areas it's much more likely for someone to be able to fulfill their desires with real-life consenting humans.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Monday August 24 2020, @07:47PM (5 children)
Your hypothesis is all well and good, but Japan can't both be repressive of sexuality and have sex toys and sexual fanservice on public display in large chain stores and television. I doubt they're selling sex toys in the grocery stores in the Bible Belt.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday August 24 2020, @08:16PM (1 child)
Sure it can. Just like Victorian Britain, where the upper and middle classes acted ridiculously repressed, everybody without money could barely afford to have love in their lives, and brothels were thriving businesses. Hypocrites are quite common among those who are trying to stop other people from enjoying sex.
Now, it's quite true that Japan is more open about the business of sex than the US is (but not by much - the US might not sell that stuff in groceries, but go 2 miles down the road to the adult shop and they'll be happy to take care of you, and of course the Internet exists), but there's not a massive contradiction between that and repressing people choosing to have sex for fun with no money changing hands.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday August 25 2020, @03:50AM
I don't know what you're trying to say. If you're saying a society where you can buy sex toys next to the children's toy section in a big box store has repressed sexuality, then Hitler was a saint who believed in racial equality.
>the US might not sell that stuff in groceries, but go 2 miles down the road to the adult shop
If you need to head down to the seedy district, that's a much stronger case for cultural repression.
Really, you're confusing the hell out of me. It sounds like you're saying the state that sells guns at Walmart that most people shop at is just as repressed or more repressed in gun ownership than the state that requires going down to a special gun shop that most people don't shop at. That's just silly talk.
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(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday August 24 2020, @09:05PM
"Oh, you want produce. Over there, end of the store."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2020, @09:10PM
What? No more zuchini? How 'bout those big, plump, dill pickles? And, squash. Mama loves a baby squash, now and then.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 25 2020, @04:38AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves