The Tokyo Toilet project // Fujifilm X100VI

One of the things I was most excited about seeing in Tokyo was The Tokyo Toilet project.

The Nippon Foundation commissioned the construction of these public toilets for the 2020 Olympic Games. Each toilet was designed by a different architect. Due to the pandemic, these works of public art were unable to be shown to the world.

Wim Wenders was invited to make short films about each of the facilities but, upon seeing them, he decided that a feature length film with a main character was more fitting. From this, “Perfect Days” was born. I watched it in 2023 and it brought me this immense sense of peace that warms me every time I think back on watching it.

I hopped on 4 different Docomo bikes, each with a flat tire and dying battery, to visit some of the toilets. Each one is unique and nestled in a corner of busy public areas. I also visited Yoyogi-Hachimwn-gū, the park where Hirayama (the protagonist) takes his lunch break. There, I bumped into a young Chinese guy who was also visiting the spots from the film. We took photos of each other sitting on the bench and I even recreated the photo Hirayama takes with his own camera in the film of the branches above him.

That day was my own perfect day; I got to fly through the streets of central Tokyo, dipping in and out of residential neighbourhoods to see these works of art, sitting there as if they were waiting for my visit all along.