We all want to be smiling when we go but if you’re “going” at one of Okinawa, Japan’s cute and creative public restrooms, grinning comes with the territory.

Flickr member Okinawa Soba (Rob) has a thing for public restrooms – not that there’s anything wrong with that – and he also has a camera. The combination is unexpectedly serendipitous, though the photographer deserves full credit for employing the latter with great discretion when exploring the former.

Based in Okinawa, a southern Japanese island prefecture rich in culture, history and tragedy, the photographer snapped most of his posted public restroom shots over the past decade. Take the so-called “Tangerine Toilet”, photographed in late 2015 and located in the mountain village of Izumi. Some say the restroom is modeled after a pumpkin but unlike our familiar Halloween jack o’lantern squash, Japanese “kabocha” pumpkins are only orange on the inside.

Angler of the Dangler

That’s NOT water under the bridge – it just sounds like it. This decidedly fishy public toilet is located in Nago, a city of just over 60,000 in northern Okinawa. Like many of the island’s mimetic public restrooms, this koi-shaped toilet appears rather sun-faded and soot-streaked, indicating appreciable age. Like most of Japan’s public restrooms in general, however, it’s well-maintained and surprisingly clean on the inside.

The Write Stuff

Situated near a small park in Okinawa City, this pencil-stub-shaped public restroom reflects some of the cultural norms of the island in that the urinal is doorless while the toilet (an old-fashioned “squat” model) lies behind a stout metal door. Photographer Okinawa Soba (Rob) snapped the literary loo in April of 2015.

Smells Finny

This gorgeous public restroom located in Okinawa’s Awase district is THE place to pee, er, be if you’re in the neighborhood and hear nature’s call. Heck, we’d visit it whether nature’s calling or not! Designed with color-coded entrance ways for each gender, this bright and beautiful public toilet features both traditional and modern commodes to suit any preference.

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Going In Style Cute Creative Public Restrooms Of Okinawa

Making the most of limited living space requires modular solutions that can be moved around and altered at will, and that includes bathroom fixtures. Smart, compact modular or all-in-one bathroom solutions add extra luxuries to tiny rooms, rather than taking them away, making room for tubs, saunas, spacious vanities and storage along with necessities like toilets and sinks. Here are 15 intriguing space-saving bathroom concepts.

Fold-Up Bathtub

Few people in small urban apartments are lucky enough to have a bathtub. But that kind of relaxing amenity would be more possible if more bathtub designs resembled this one. Designer Dominik Chojnacki envisions a fold-up tub that nestles up against the wall when not in use. Too bad it doesn’t double as a shower for ultimate adaptability.

‘Oneself’ For the Person Who Lives Alone

In a one-room apartment where privacy isn’t a problem, perhaps something like this would work (though it would be better if it was at least partially walled off): a gridded wall that opens to reveal a sink, toilet and shower along with storage for towels and other items.

Super-Compact Flight Concept

This modular all-in-one bathroom concept combines a shower, sink, tub and vanity in one compact unit. A portion of the ‘Flight’ cabinet folds down to become an elevated bathtub.

Bathroom on a Wall

Here’s another concept that hides bathroom fixtures in a wall so they’re out of the way when not in use. Each panel of the Fluid Wall has identical hidden mounting points so various components can be swapped out as desired by the user including sinks, toilets, shelves and storage.

Space-Saving Tulip Shower

The Tulip Shower is an actual dual-usage, fold-up fixture that serves as a shower when standing or a tub when laying down. It looks sort of like a futuristic space pod full of high-powered massagers and underwater jets. The back surface of the shower provides a space to lean against when you’re lounging in the tub.

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Small Space Design 15 Fold Up All In One Bathrooms

The tiles that line your bathroom might be nice to look at, but what do they actually do? The color-changing tiles from Moving Color take a regular bathroom and make it into an ever-changing work of art.

(image via: Apartment Therapy)

Moving Color’s products turn their environments into dynamic and ever-changing spaces by reacting to ambient temperatures. They start out as one color when cool, then slowly change color as they warm up.

(image via: Moving Color)

The glass tiles, made of 20-80% recycled materials, change colors in gradual steps through the color spectrum as they warm up. Whether the warmth is applied through hot water, the touch of a warm hand or simply the rising air temperature in a room, the changes result in a spectacular hypercolor display.

(image via: BrainStorm)

Although the obvious applications would seem to be wall coverings in bathrooms and kitchens – the two rooms in the home that undergo the most extreme temperature changes – the heat-sensitive tiles could be used in a multitude of applications. The manufacturer suggests using them for artful displays on walls or floors, or even as creative elements in children’s books.