Travel
How to use a Japanese toilet: the buttons, the Sound Princess and the slippers
A traveller’s guide to Japanese toilets: what おしり, ビデ, 止 and 乾燥 mean, how to flush, what the Sound Princess is for and the slipper rule.
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Airport restrooms of the world
The airport restrooms of the world, one terminal at a time.
Travel
Manneken Pis: the true story of Brussels’ most famous little boy
Manneken Pis facts and legends: how old the statue really is, why the one on the corner is a copy, the thefts, and his 1,000-outfit wardrobe.
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Paris street urinals: the vespasiennes, the last one standing and the red ones nobody wanted
Paris once had more than 1,200 street urinals. How the vespasiennes got their name, where the last one survives, and what replaced them.
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Did Thomas Crapper invent the toilet? And where “spend a penny” comes from
No, Thomas Crapper didn’t invent the flush toilet, or the word “crap”. The real story, plus the 1851 penny toilets behind “spend a penny”.
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Did Tycho Brahe die because he was too polite to pee?
The astronomer Tycho Brahe fell ill after a Prague banquet where he held it in. What Kepler recorded, what his exhumations found, and why you shouldn’t hold it.
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Pecunia non olet: the Roman emperor who taxed urine
What “pecunia non olet” really means, why Emperor Vespasian taxed the urine trade, and why French urinals are still called vespasiennes.
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The Schiphol urinal fly: the true story (and the myth of 80%)
Amsterdam Schiphol etched a fly into its urinals in the early 1990s. Who came up with it, whether it really cut spillage by 80%, and why economists love it.
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Why Tokyo Haneda has the cleanest airport toilets in the world
Haneda has been named the world’s cleanest airport 11 years running. The cleaner behind it, the transparent toilets of Shibuya and the film they inspired.