A total of 28 municipalities and businesses have received the government’s first toilet awards for promoting clean, safe and comfortable public lavatories while also improving women’s lives through better sanitation.

“Although there are diverse policies relating to food, we have few opportunities to discuss the issue of defecation, which is one of the most fundamental actions in our lives,” Haruko Arimura, minister in charge of women’s empowerment, said Friday during the award ceremony in Tokyo.

The recipients for Toilet Awards Japan, launched earlier this year, were selected from among 378 applicants by six ministries.

Tokyu Department Store Co., the Sapporo Cultural Arts Foundation and nine other winners were given the women’s empowerment minister award for making women’s restrooms more attractive, such as by making space for breast-feeding and by shortening waiting lines.

In a shopping area at the Shibuya Hikarie commercial complex in Tokyo, Tokyu has spaces featuring art displays, background music and special fragrances that are “called ‘switch rooms’ instead of restrooms because they are designed to give visitors a change of mood,” said Tokyu official Kazuo Nakano.

“We want to have our female visitors feel relaxed and enable working women to switch between their business and private moods,” he added.

Arimura said better toilet facilities will help.

“Pleasant restrooms will improve the quality of daily life and encourage women’s empowerment,” she said.

Improving women’s toilets will lead to a society that is comfortable for all, including men, the disabled and tourists, said Arimura, who is leading the government’s toilet beautification initiative.

The government is looking to make Japanese restrooms more friendly for tourists from abroad ahead of 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

Narita International Airport Corp. and Tokyo International Air Terminal Corp. were among the seven who received the tourism minister award for promoting the charms of Japanese toilets as a way of attracting tourists.

Four other honors were the environment minister award, education minister award, disaster management minister award and the regional revitalization minister award.

The event was held just a week after Japan hosted a two-day international women’s symposium, where a special session on empowerment through sanitation was held. Panelists discussed the impact of safe and accessible sanitation facilities on female advancement.