During the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
, the world press discovered an unusual restroom at the Kokuritsu Kyōgijō
building (roughly translates to "National Competition Field") — well of course it was a female restroom with a urinal
. The reason for its existence was apparently to accomodate peoples of a wide range of cultural backgrounds. This female urinal was called "Sanistand
", made by Toto
(Japan's big name when it comes to toilets) which manufactured it for about twenty years. Usage required the urinator
to face away from the urinal, bend slightly at the hips, and pee backwards. This information was gleened from Toto Kids
website (in Japanese), which provided a variety of information on Japanese and world toilet history, by presenting it in a fun and friendly conversation style including cartoon figures of a little girl, a talking toilet bowl, and a talking shit.
According to the website, it was in fact USA that pioneered female urinal making in the early 20th century, and Toto's Sanistand came after American Standard
(at that time American-Standard) introduced their Sanistand. I'm a bit perplexed as to why there wasn't a trademark dispute over this. Only few and conflicting information seems to exist about the US Sanistand, but it seems like it really existed. Not unreasonably the American Standard website doesn't have a whole lot of information on this, either because they're trying not to publicize it much or don't care much about it.
Historically, Japanese women have practiced urinating while standing up
not just in Edo era Kyoto
, but also in rural
areas from the north to the south as late as the mid 20th century. Tokyo on the other hand has not had this practice at least since the Edo era
, when the city was known as Edo
. Today's virtual death of this practice across the country can be attributed to a new culture that found it offensive, as well as practical issues with pulling down the underpants and getting in the peeing position standing up with western clothes.
Today, virtually all women in both the US and Japan don't practice urinating while standing up, and neither Toto nor American Standard manufacture female urinals anymore. Discussion of this topic to females in either country may often be inappropriate, and may result in shock and horror.