When I first heard about the infamous men’s toilet at platform 13 of Ueno Station, I was curious and wanted to take a look myself. But since I had no reason to visit Ueno Station, I never actually went there.
The story goes (a real story) that every night past 11pm, the men’s toilet at the very end of platform 13 at Ueno Station turns into a paradise for gay men to have sex. People have fortunately or unfortunately witnessed acts they didn’t want to catch live occurring in the bathroom made for men to take off their pants (what you do after that supposedly is your freedom), and this sexual heaven for gay men has made the police frustrated enough to actually put up notices.
A few months ago when a long-time friend visited Japan with his wife, I related this story to them and they actually went to the toilet at midnight and snapped the following images.
As you can see, police are on alert so that people will go have sex in the privates of their room instead of doing it at a public space. The white piece of paper in the second image says:
The police and station staff have stepped up patrol in the toilet due to several acts of public nuisance. Please contact station staff or the police if you see any acts of public nuisance.
And in the boxed up area is written:
Uses of the restroom for purposes other than what it was originally made for are prohibited. Anyone caught performing malicious acts of nuisance will be reported to the police.
You might want to put that toilet in your next travel itinerary.
