It’s a two-room toilet. It’s barrier-free. It has baby changing tables. It is, by all appearances, a regular-ass public bathroom.
That’s left many locals asking: why the f*!@ did it cost so much?
The commode in question is located in the 1,300-member village of Mitsue, located in eastern Nara Prefecture on the border with Mie Prefecture (southeast of Osaka). And no, it didn’t quite cost a million dollars. But at a total taxpayer expense of 95 million yen (USD $615,000), it comes close.
The good news is that the village is only on the hook for 30% of that, with the remaining money coming from the Japanese government. The bad news is that 30% of 95 million yen is still a lot of money to pay for a crapper.
Mayor Ito Kazuyoshi defended the toilet to MBS News, which sits near the west entrance to the village, as showing the “good side” of Mitsue to arriving visitors. And it’s not like the facility goes unused. It serves around 10 people per hour – both visitors to Mitsue as well as people passing through the mountains to other destinations.
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But why did it cost so damn much? According to Mayor Ito, the facility was made with village wood from the village and Nara Prefecture to showcase the quality of local lumber. That drove up cost and labor.
The mayor says it’s worth it. Some residents don’t agree. “That’s not a price we can consent to as residents,” said one. “Everyone calls it ‘the 100 million yen toilet,” griped another.
Some online commenters think they smell something funny. One Yahoo! News JP user, in a popular comment, speculates that the whole thing is a kickback scheme.
“‘We wanted to use wood from the village’ means ‘I bought wood at a premium from my friend in the lumber business’. ‘We wanted to build it using prefecturally-made lumber’ means ‘I hired a friend in construction at above market rates’.”
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