Where to Find Public Toilets in Japan

Japan has plenty of free, clean toilets, but they are not always where you expect. This guide explains which places to try first, how each option works, and what changes late at night.

The short answer

Place	Free?	Usually open	Good for
Train / subway stations	Yes	First to last train	Almost anywhere in cities
Department stores, malls	Yes	Store hours (often about 10:00–20:00)	Cleanest, most facilities
Parks, tourist sites	Yes	Often long hours; varies	Sightseeing
Convenience stores	Usually for customers	Store hours; many are 24 hours	Quick stops; ask first
Michi-no-eki, highway service areas	Yes	24 hours	Driving trips

Train and subway stations

Stations are the most reliable option in towns and cities. Almost every station has toilets, and large stations have several. Look for the toilet symbol or トイレ on the signs and station floor maps.

Inside or outside the gates. Some toilets are inside the ticket gates. If you are not travelling, ask the staff at the manned gate rather than tapping your IC card.
Accessible toilets. Stations with elevators usually have a multipurpose toilet, often near the elevator.
Paper. Most station toilets have paper today, but carrying tissues is still a good habit.

Convenience stores (konbini)

Many 7-Eleven, FamilyMart and Lawson stores have a toilet, usually at the back of the store. Policies differ by store:

Some toilets are open to anyone, some are for customers only, and some are closed to the public, especially in busy city centres or late at night.
Ask the staff first: “Toire, karite mo ii desu ka?” (May I use the toilet?). Buying something afterwards is a polite thank-you.
Keep it quick. Most stores have only one toilet for staff and customers.

In our data, 1,054 toilets (3.3%) are explicitly tagged as customers only. Most shop toilets are not mapped at all, so treat a konbini as a backup, not a plan.

Department stores and shopping malls

Department stores and large shopping buildings usually have the cleanest toilets, with baby changing tables, accessible toilets and sometimes powder rooms. They are free and open to everyone during store hours. Toilets are often on every floor near the escalators or at the back of the floor.

Parks and tourist sites

Parks, temples, shrines, castles and viewpoints usually have public toilets near the entrance or the parking area. Quality varies: most are clean, but some older ones have squat toilets or no paper. Inside large temple grounds or on hiking trails there may be none, so go before you set off.

Road trips: michi-no-eki and service areas

If you rent a car, michi-no-eki (roadside stations) and expressway service and parking areas have free toilets that are open 24 hours, as well as parking and often food. They are the easiest places to stop outside cities.

At night

Stations close after the last train, usually around midnight to 1:00, and their toilets close with them.
Convenience stores are often open 24 hours, but some close their toilets at night.
Parks often keep toilets open at night, but they can be dark and quiet. Choose a well-lit one.

Only 394 toilets (1.2%) are tagged as open 24/7 in our data, and just 2.3% have any opening hours recorded. At night, stick to places you can see are open, and use the map to find the next option nearby.

Toilets in five major cities

We counted mapped public toilets around the main station of each city. Together these five areas (within 10 km) hold 3,839 toilets, 12.0% of all public toilets mapped in Japan.

City (from main station)	1 km	3 km	10 km	Wheelchair (10 km)	24/7 (10 km)
Tokyo	55	331	1,838	32.9%	2.5%
Osaka	33	91	664	23.5%	0.8%
Kyoto	44	192	646	17.8%	0.8%
Sapporo	20	92	412	16.3%	0.7%
Fukuoka	10	49	279	12.5%	1.1%

Counts are by distance from each city's main station, not by city boundaries. Data from OpenStreetMap as of 2026-09-28.

Find the nearest one now. The map shows public toilets around you anywhere in Japan.

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