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Several years ago I had the privilege to visit Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, the largest church in the world with almost half a million members. There, I was very surprised to observe that this great Pentecostal church had unisex restrooms. There was no separate restroom for men or women that I could find. It was there that I discovered that the way we have separate restrooms in the western world is a matter of culture, not religion.Following the very inspiring worship service I found a restroom and went in to take care of business. To my surprise, There was a long row of a dozen or more toilets along the left wall. They were alternately labeled MEN and WOMEN. The last toilet was labeled FOREIGNER. It was the only one with a toilet seat and toilet paper. The Koreans were obviously expected to just squat over a hole in the floor, and I suppose they brought their own paper with them.Along the opposite wall from the toilets was a long row of urinals, which were used only by the men. As the men stood facing the wall, relieving themselves, women freely passed by looking for an unoccupied women's stall.Maybe this would be the answer to today's restroom dilemma in the western world. Once we got over the culture shock of the Korean system it should work well www.GrowingUpPentecostal.blogspot.com

Re: The Korean answer to our restroom delimma

A young lady from our church went to China several years ago with a group of folk from her university teachin English. She said the bathrooms in China were exactly what you describe above, a room with a hole in the floor.

A young lady from our church went to China several years ago with a group of folk from her university teachin English. She said the bathrooms in China were exactly what you describe above, a room with a hole in the floor. Ain't they sorta like at in Pikeville? 'Cept maybe sometimes they's a built up shelf off the floor to set on? And if you up in the world you can git one a them white oval picture frames from the Sears and Roebuck catalogue to put around the hole. something like this bonnie;

I agree there are many solutions to the restroom problem.But our President includes locker rooms with showers too.Do Koreans all shower together - men and women

It seems like 20 years ago in South Korea, they had male and female bathrooms. I remember a men's bathroom with urinals too close together at a bus stop, and it seems like the Lotteria hamburger place in the town I was in had a unisex bathroom with all stalls down to the floor and no urinals. I haven't been all over China, but in China, I saw men's and women's rest rooms.In both scenarios they had squat toilets, not just a hole in the ground, but a porcelin thing that one can squat over. It seems like the ones in those countries had flushers. In Indonesia, squat toilets may or may not have a flush handle, but they would have a spigot and bucket. Typically, in Indonesia, there is a dipper in the bucket. You flush with the water from the dipper. They also use the water instead of toilet paper.Koreans and Chinese take their own little packets of Kleenex. They use a trash can instead of flushing the paper down. Toilets in China that I have seen were cleaner than in a lot of Chinese restaurants in the US, which have a bit of a 70's gas station feel to them. But if any paper gets in the trash can, the bathroom stinks and so does the bathroom outside. South Korea had the same problem, but their bathrooms had a bit more of a kimchi smell to them when this happened, if you asked me.Indonesia is really good about there being soap in the bathroom. The Chinese I asked about their bathrooms said they took tissue with them, but not soap. They used used water. Indonesians don't usually carry tissue and they eat with their hands, so there is almost always soap in the bathroom. They also have sinks in restaurants outside of the bathroom to wash your hands before you eat in Indonesia, even McDonald's. I suppose you could say that is a positive thing about Islam. Islamic cultures are very much focused on cleanliness, bathing, and handwashing. Some Indonesians think Americans are dirty if they only bathe once a day.Fortunately, I don't recall going to the restroom at Yoido Full Gospel. Maybe I did. I went there twice in the 1990's. I also preached there for a few seconds and took a picture in the pulpit, but no one was listening except my wife. No one else was there. It was a weekday, late in the afternoon. I'd have thought they'd have kept that place busy all the time