This one stewed in my head a long time, mostly because I couldn’t figure out how to present toilets in the right way.
In this comic you get to see: 4th grade me (I’m the one with the short hair in the elementary school bathroom), 10th grade me (with the ponytail in the Forbidden City bathroom), and the current me in the Beijing Sanlitou movie theater bathroom).
Just to clarify: in my experience, most city home bathrooms are “western style” (or perhaps truer to the mark, “Japanese style”), but people still prefer squatting in public bathrooms. There was once when I was in line at the public bathroom in Beijing’s Houhai area, and then I discovered that the “western” bathroom stall was empty — no one wanted to use it. So I was like, “score!”
What I am most happy about is the increasing prevalence of toilet paper in bathrooms.
Also: Instructions http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Squat-Toilet
When I went to japan the first time, I had to spend 3 months in an apartment with a squat toilet…I learned pretty fast!
When I was in Japan, my ryokan had a Western toilet, but the public restroom at the Golden Pavilion was a squat toilet with no toilet paper. I think Japan has some of the same non-standardization issues!
I also sometimes worry about facing the right way. But for public restrooms, I kind of prefer the squat toilets anyway, since I don’t have to worry about sitting on some toilet seat the last person forgot to wipe down. It just means that when I’m traveling I tend to wear skirts that can be easily hiked up for squatting.
Face the flush pedal, yes? Like driving a car? I dunno, never having used one.
When I traveled Europe, supplies of toilet paper were also unreliable.
Lacking paper seat covers, as public restrooms here often are, I’ve taken to balancing on one side on a strip of TP or squatting.
The “Asian squat” really stretches the hamstring. Like sitting seiza, hard if your legs haven’t been trained that way. Plus, peeing only 2 inches from your shoes could be potentially devastating. And how wide are those toilets?
The best I can figure: butt over the drain hole. Reasoning: urine can flow down naturally because it’s slanted, but poop needs some extra help. Or, if there’s a splash guard, I’d face the splash guard. Squat toilets are about shoulder width and about 2 feet long. Well, your shoes would be out of the way because they’re not in the toilet. I never really care about toilet seat covers.
Usually I squat facing the door, if there is one. Of course, some “toilets” are still just concrete ditches with running water, like the 1994 panel. I don’t think it matters which way you face then, so I just try to make sure I’m not face-to-face with the person nearest me.
I’m glad that failing at the Asian squat is not limited to people born in the US, because I totally, totally fail at the Asian squat. When I was in Japan, it was like, “How are you guys DOING that? You’re like an 80 year-old grandma!” And then I’d try and then it’d be a disaster. Ditto for the traditional ryokan.