I Wanted to Ride the Kitakyushu Monorail
Taking the long way on purpose for the monorail
After returning from Shimonoseki to Kokura, I decided to do a little more sightseeing before my flight. My destination was the TOTO Museum.
But I really wanted to ride the monorail, so I deliberately took the long way there by monorail, haha.
If I had gone by bus, I could have gotten off at a stop just a 1-minute walk away, but from the monorail station it was a 13-minute walk.
Still, I wanted to ride the monorail no matter what, so that was that! In the end, I rode it for just three stops.
TOTO Museum
A building that somehow instantly says TOTO
Kokura is where TOTO was founded! I honestly wonder what percentage of people in Japan rely on TOTO every single day.
The toilets at my home and workplace are both TOTO, my parents' house has TOTO, and my grandparents' house did too, so I really feel like my life has been supported by TOTO…. I'm such a TOTO fan that I even bring a portable TOTO Washlet with me when I travel overseas.
That’s why the place I absolutely had to visit on this trip was the TOTO Museum. You could call it a kind of TOTO pilgrimage.
The museum building has an unmistakably TOTO-like feel.
It’s not shaped like a toilet, and it’s not made of ceramic, yet somehow it still feels very “TOTO.” The curves are just right.
Exploring the passionate history of the toilet
Admission to the museum is completely free! The first floor is a showroom, but since I wasn’t planning to buy anything, I decided not to go near it. The museum itself is on the second floor.
You really get a sense that TOTO’s history has gone hand in hand with Japan’s modernization. Thank you, TOTO.
There are also plenty of exhibits on things like the product development process—so many that make you think, “Wow, are they really showing all this?!”
This perfectly round Neorest display made me think: someday I want one installed in my home.
Apparently, miniature models like these used to be used in sales presentations.
White may be the standard now, but up until the early Heisei era, colored sanitary ware was actually pretty common, wasn’t it? If you go into slightly older buildings, you still see them around all the time.
In the second half of the museum, you find yourself surrounded by a huge number of toilets. I kept thinking things like, “My grandparents probably had this type,” and really felt the weight of that history.
It’s not just the appearance that evolved—the technology did too, and you also learn how dramatically water usage has been reduced.
And then there were the men’s urinals. My old school had an unbelievably old building, and these were the urinals it had… haha. They’re the kind known as the “morning glory” shape.
I’ve heard the toilets there have since been replaced with shiny new ones, but honestly, how did I ever end up going to a high school like that? Public prefectural high schools really have no budget.
The last exhibit is “TOTO Around the World.” Even with TOTO, you can see that the designs and controls are adapted for different regions.
Some of the designs reminded me of toilets I’ve seen in hotels in the U.S. Maybe they really do prefer those boxier shapes.
The TOTO Museum was so much fun!
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