Japan’s Female Lawmakers Call for More Restrooms in Lower House; Legislators Complain Daily Inconveniences

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:44 JST, December 31, 2025

A bipartisan group of female members of the House of Representatives has requested the installation of additional restrooms for women within the lower house of the Diet Building.

Although a record 73 women were elected to the legislature in the 2024 general election, the number of women’s restrooms remains low compared to those for men, raising concerns that long wait times could interfere with their legislative duties.

When the Diet Building was completed in 1936, women did not yet have the right to vote. With the increasing number of women entering politics, more women’s restrooms have been added. The lower house wing currently has 12 for men, but only nine for women.

However, across those facilities, there are only 22 stalls for women compared to 67 stalls and urinals for men. Near the chamber of the lower house, there is only one women’s restroom, which has just two stalls.

In December, a group of 12 female lawmakers submitted a request to Yasukazu Hamada, chairman of the lower house Rules and Administration Committee, regarding the shortage of restrooms.

They noted that “congestion and waiting times have become a daily occurrence,” adding that this situation threatens to interfere with their legislative duties and the progress of house proceedings.

They called for additional restrooms to be installed near the chamber as early as possible in the next fiscal year.

Fifty-eight female lawmakers, including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, have voiced their support — a figure representing roughly 80% of all women in the lower house.

Yasuko Komiyama, a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, one of the organizers, told reporters, “We sometimes have to give up on using the restroom and just hold it.”

Hamada reportedly responded that the committee would “discuss the matter positively.”