three years in Japan graduating from
junior high school takes three years I’m
sure that many things happen to you
during the time you study a lot you’re
busy with club activities or maybe you
but there’s another place where people
spend three years of your life that is
the toilet research by the World Toilet
organization shows that people spend
three years of their lifetime on the
toilet we can see that toilets have a
great impact on their life even though
we don’t talk about them soften here is
one more interesting fact in a survey
conducted by a Japanese toilet
manufacturer total eighty-four percent
of the respondents answered that work
motivation is affected by toilet comfort
so better toilets can boost work
motivation judging from these facts we
can see that toilet is not just a
hygienic necessity but a tool which
greatly influences people and their
thinking The effect of the toilet is
bigger than we thought isn’t it we can
change people’s perceptions our
perceptions through the toilet let me
show you some ways how toilets are only
changing our perceptions last month I
went on the hot spring trip with my
family and I saw an interesting sign in
a toilet at the train station recently
we often see toilets with multilingual
this place like this highway companies
have installed touchscreens in a toilets
room
and they give instructions on how to use
these toilets make us aware that people
from many countries are living in Japan
moreover consider the inference which
multipurpose toilets have on people I’m
sure that many of you have used this
kind of toilets before it is spacious
enough to accommodate wheelchairs has
handrails next to the toilet and
modifying sink which helps automate
users with their business seeing and
experiencing such toilets firsthand can
make us aware of the needs of wheelchair
and ostomate users I think these are
much better and more natural ways to
create awareness of diversity compared
to textbooks or lectures at school by
the way do you know what percentage of
actually it’s only 1.8 percent compared
to the average percentage of
foreign-born residents in OECD countries
which is 13% Japan is considered as a
less diverse society therefore I believe
that we’re like more likely to overlook
also gender equal which is another issue
Japanese men perform only 1/5 of the
housework which the average woman does
it is quite low compared to other
developed countries then why don’t we
let me give you some ideas to tackle
these issues and change your society
with toilet have you ever seen in a baby
changing table I’m sure that many of you
who know that right now are women
needless to say less men’s toilets have
baby changing tables compared to a
woman’s toilets but think about what
would happen if we put more of them in
men’s toilets they may change men’s
perception and aware and more men to
reconsider parent roles and make them
aware that fathers are also
participating in child raising oh so
let’s break the stereotype that there
are only two genders gender is a social
concept and is not limited to male and
female according to Professor Junko
mihashi a gender society and culture
researcher installing all gender toilets
or multi-purpose toilets separately from
the men’s toilet and women’s toilet
helps Muslim us or it helps gender
minorities the more such toilets are
installed the more we’ll be able to
deepen our understanding of gender
minorities finally let’s think about how
people with various religions use
toilets for example look at this picture
it has a shower how is this shower used
in a toilet actually Muslims from some
countries use shower after their
business therefore it is a big issue
when they use toilets in Japan which
installing such towers not only helps
Muslims but also make us aware that
people with various religions coexist
with that in the same society to sum up
my suggestions I want to say that
considering toilet problems and these
people around us can be a learning
experience for us it may change your
perceptions of diversity and make us
more aware of the needs and hardship
which some people have even in such
small details like using a toilet after
so much talking about toilets I bet you
can’t wait on the toilet right now so
when you use public toilets from now on
please remember my speech for three
seconds and the toilets from a new
perspective your awareness will change
this society much much better thank you [Applause]