Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister, Stephen Shen, is calling on the island’s men to sit down when they pee in order to keep toilets clean, adding that he himself has already adopted the habit.
The Minister has caused great debate with his pronouncement but he maintains that sitting down creates a cleaner environment. He wants Taiwan to be more like Sweden and Japan in this respect. It is thought that in Japan, around 30% of men sit down to pee.
Inspectors regularly grade Taiwan’s estimated 100,000 public toilets, but while most receive high marks, officials say there is room for improvement as some toilets are still smelly because of urine spatter.
The EPA acknowledges that it cannot force men to change their habits, but it will ask local governments to put notices in public toilets with the suggestion.