A SOLUTION

One feasible solution to this problem is for hikers and skiers to simply pack out their own human waste. Pooping in a bag and taking it home with you takes some getting used to. However, it is perfectly feasible using the right tools. Outdoor stores in Sapporo sell portable toilets designed for the job. We used the High Mount portable toilets (available on Amazon.co.jp) on our trip to Nakadake Onsen, and they worked a treat.

They’re easy to use – lay the large inner bag down on the ground, poo into it, tie it shut with the supplied string, and then put this inner bag into the thick odor-proof outer bag. The inner bag has an absorbent pad that absorbs and solidifies liquid.

We packed out the bags in our own packs, and they sat in the car for two days before we had a chance to dispose of them in our household burnable trash – we never smelled any untoward odors.

During the peak Daisetsuzan National Park hiking season, there are deposit bins at major trailheads along the Daisetsuzan Range for hikers to dispose of their portable toilets. Outside of these times, portable toilets can be disposed of in any burnable rubbish bins.

Poo bag sizing

At the significant risk of going into far too much detail, please allow me some self-disclosure. On overnight ski trips and hiking trips, I tend to be a once-every-couple-of-days kind of guy when it comes to pooping. Suffice it to say that I tend to require a large bag when the time comes. Scroll down the page, and you’ll see a photo of a black inner bag that we picked up at a local Sapporo outdoor store. I was happy that we’d only brought these as backups – they were laughably small for my needs (am I actually writing this on the Internet?). The High Mount portable toilet packs, however, came with very generous-sized inner bags. All this is to say that you may want to make sure you don’t skimp on the size when deciding on your weapon of choice.