🇯🇵Japan·Open to visitors

Jingū-dōri Park Toilet (The Tokyo Toilet)

Shibuya, Tokyo

Sources checked October 2026

“A round pavilion of vertical louvers under a large overhanging roof, conceived as a shelter from the rain.”

Year: 2020
Architect: Tadao Ando
Type: Public park toilet
Access: In service, maintained by Shibuya Ward since 2024 (Shibuya Ward, July 2025)

In Jingū-dōri Park, along the avenue linking Shibuya and Harajuku, this public toilet is a small round building whose outer wall of vertical louvers lets light and wind through. The roof overhangs generously: Tadao Ando wanted people to be able to shelter from the rain under it. Opened in 2020, it is one of the seventeen toilets of THE TOKYO TOILET project, which Shibuya Ward now maintains.

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In depth ≈ 2 min read

History

The Jingū-dōri Park Toilet (神宮通公園トイレ) belongs to THE TOKYO TOILET project, run by the Nippon Foundation (日本財団) with the cooperation of Shibuya Ward (渋谷区): seventeen public toilets, designed by sixteen architects and designers, that anyone can use comfortably whatever their sex, age or disability. The project began in 2018. For all the toilets, Daiwa House Industry handled design and construction, and TOTO surveyed the existing facilities and proposed fixtures and layouts.

The one in Jingū-dōri Park is the work of Tadao Ando (安藤忠雄); it has been in service since 7 September 2020, at 6-22-8 Jingūmae. All seventeen toilets were in place by March 2023. The Nippon Foundation handed them over to Shibuya Ward at a ceremony on 23 June 2023, and the ward has maintained them since fiscal year 2024.

Architecture

The building is round. Its cylindrical outer wall is made of vertical louvers that let in light and wind: Ando wanted toilets that are bright, well ventilated and safe, natural ventilation mattering to him in a humid country, as the deep eaves and outer corridors of traditional houses and temples show. The circle, a fundamental shape, seemed to him right for a facility open to everyone.

The roof overhangs generously and recalls the engawa, the outer veranda of traditional houses. Ando wanted toilets where people could take cover when it rains, hence the name “Amayadori” (あまやどり), shelter from the rain. By his own account, it was the first time he had designed a toilet as a building in its own right.

Use today

It is a public park toilet, open to everyone regardless of sex, age or disability. Ando hoped it would also be a place to take refuge when one is in trouble, a building of value to everyone. Shibuya Ward maintains it.

Visiting

The toilet stands in Jingū-dōri Park, at 6-22-8 Jingūmae, Shibuya, along Meiji-dōri (明治通り), which links Shibuya and Harajuku. It is a public park facility, to be used as such.