[zanderz]

Surprised the article didn't mention that you are generally welcome to use the restroom in a Japanese convenience store, which will usually have a spotless toilet with fancy robotic bidet features. At least in Tokyo a few years back, it seemed true of every place you went and it makes American cities seem savage and inhospitable in comparison.

[distantaidenn]

By spotless toilet with a robotic bidet, I suppose you mean the washlet that's usually covered in fecal matter. Trust me, you don't wanna accidentally look under there.

Anyway, you're a madman if you're using a public washlet! Also have you ever seen a park toilet here. I shudder just thinking about it. Zero privacy urinals open to the world, or a squat toilet that the last 100 people didn't so much as aim into, but rather aim at. A layer of urine nicely coating the floor is typically your welcome as well.

The only "spotless" toilets I have seen have been in hotels and nice department stores, and sometimes the disabled toilets in some stations.

[Auracle]

They’re bidet-less but I’v never been to a convenience store without a bathroom in the US - but they’d all be gas stations as well for me. Is that a thing in inner cities?

Also, the actual public toilets in Tokyo are some of the worst that I’ve seen.

It’s Europe that’s inhospitable, bathroom-wise. First you have to find one, and then you need to pay. I don’t see how that makes business sense to me. If people are stopping to go to the bathroom there’s a good chance they’ll buy something.