ABSTRACT
In discussing transgender rights, one of the most contentious issues has been one of the most basic human needs – that of using the toilet. Around the world, there continue the cases of violence against trans people based on the toilet they use, schools and institutions trying to restrict trans individuals from using the toilet of the gender they are, and discursive violence in the form of scaremongering and gender essentialism about controlling which toilet trans individuals use. We all need to use the toilet, but for many individuals this need has become one mired by the politics of gender, thus making the toilet a space for judgment as well as potential danger. This chapter considers transgender issues in Japan with a particular focus on the contentious spaces of toilets and changing rooms.
