Construction of Restrooms for Osaka-Kansai Expo to Cost Up To ¥200 million Each

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:24 JST, February 21, 2024

The cost of some of the restrooms to be installed at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo will be up to approximately ¥200 million per facility, it has been learned.

“Compared with ordinary public toilets, it is not particularly expensive,” Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ken Saito said on Tuesday at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting.

Approximately 40 public restrooms will be built at the Expo site. Eight of these will be designed by young architects, and technical specifications have been decided with their designs in mind.

Contractors for five of these lavatories have been selected so far and construction fees are estimated to range between ¥69-¥190 million per restroom.

During the current session of the Diet, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan questioned the cost of these facilities as a “waste of money.”

He emphasized that the government has no plans to change its order policy regarding the public solicitation of contractors for the remaining three facilities.