To the bathroom? Never! A Japanese man has been following the noguso philosophy of life: for 50 years he has defecated only in the woods, and he keeps a close eye on the places of his needs
Nature needs our excrement, Japanese enthusiast believes
Masana Izawa practices every day what the rest of us usually resort to only in moments of need. When it's time to defecate, he heads for the woods. Instead of a toilet, Masana always finds a suitable spot, digs a hole, performs the needful in it and then buries everything. Instead of toilet paper, he uses water and leaves from various trees and plants, which he believes are more effective and, more importantly, more environmentally friendly. "There are a variety of leaves you can use for wiping that are more pleasant than toilet paper. Nature is incredibly abundant," explains the Japanese man, who brings a bottle of water into the forest along with his leaves, and says that this is perfectly sufficient for hygiene.
The Japanese enthusiast fell into defecating in nature in his twenties when he happened to witness a demonstration against the construction of a sewage treatment plant. That's when he realized how energy-intensive the entire sewage system is. "I look like a fool, but that's only because our society is human-centric. In the whole ecological system, only humans use the toilet. Animals defecate in nature, where their excrement decomposes and enriches the soil with nutrients. It's the cycle of life. The human world, on the other hand, is absurd in many ways," says Masana Izawa.
Saving energy and water
The Japanese are bothered by the fact that flushing uses a lot of water, and additional water and energy are needed to run the whole system and produce toilet paper. "Toilet paper does not decompose naturally. And how do we produce it? We cut down trees, use a lot of energy to transport them to the factory and use additional energy, water and also chemicals in the production process. It's all wrong," says Masana, who has made a name for himself in his country as a master of noguso, which is a master of emptying in nature.
And he also points out that our excreta could enrich the soil with nutrients - just as in the case of animal excreta. And he gathers evidence for his claim. He marks each place where he has performed a major need with sticks and keeps careful records as well. In fact, he returns to the sites and assesses how the excrement decomposes and observes how life is thriving in such a place: whether mushrooms or plants are growing, for example.
Nor is Masana concerned about the pollutants that remain in the excrement. He is convinced that nature can cope with antibiotics and other substances that our body eliminates. Hygienists, however, do not share this view and there is more than enough evidence. For example, in Edo, the predecessor of today's Tokyo, human excrement was used for fertiliser and seventy per cent of the city's inhabitants suffered from parasitic diseases.
We may not be helping nature, but we're certainly helping ourselves.
On the other hand, doctors are positive about Masan's habit. For a healthier bowel movement, it is recommended to be in a squatting position. It is also natural and less strenuous for the body. When sitting, the colon is contracted by the puborectalis, a muscle that helps keep stool in the body. So when we defecate sitting up, we have to push. But in a squatting position, this muscle relaxes, the colon aligns with the rectum, and the path for emptying is clear.
But squatting is quite strenuous, and perhaps that is why our ancestors invented the toilet, on which we sit comfortably. But our health would be better served by a Turkish toilet, or at least a stool, which we can use to support our legs during defecation and thus simulate squatting without straining.
Japan's Poopland attracts dozens of curious onlookers
Masana Izawa completely fell for noguso and didn't hesitate to risk marriage. When he found out he wouldn't be allowed to defecate in the open air at Peru's famous Machu Picchu monument, he preferred to cancel that part of the honeymoon. "I found the meaning of life in the practice of noguso. I am convinced that nothing is as important to nature as the excrement that goes back into the wild. That's the reason I've been doing this for more than half a century," adds the man, who has organised related excursions and lectures in Japan, written books and starred in a number of documentaries.
But he has to be careful when practicing noguso. In Japan, defecating in public is illegal. But Masana has his own 7,000-square-metre forest behind his house, which has earned him the nickname Poopland. And somewhat surprisingly, it's a place that's becoming a tourist attraction.
"After the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, many young people with young children moved from the cities to the countryside because they want to raise their children in a safer environment. Even if it's more comfortable in the city. These are the people who understand my philosophy the most," says Masana, describing the most common people who come to him to learn more about noguso. Every month there are several dozen of them, and Masana readily gives out tips and advice on how to perform the need in the open air in the best possible way.
