Become A Shogun While Sitting On The Loo

Above, a shinkansen view of Kyoto. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Visitors to Kyoto, Japan, specifically the Kyoto municipal subway Kyoto Station, will be offered the chance to become a shogun while sitting on the loo.

According to the Asahi Shimbun:

KYOTO--Visitors sitting on the throne at a subway station here can now feel flushed with emotion, as if they were a shogun bringing the curtain down on a rule of nearly three centuries. 

The view from the toilet seat is one seen by Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837-1913), the 15th and last shogun of the Edo Period (1603-1867), looking out over his bowing vassals clad in kimono. 

The stall-size photograph, measuring 2.5 meters long by 3.7 meters wide, re-enacts the historic event, known as Taisei Hokan, in which Yoshinobu returned political power from the Tokugawa Shogunate to the emperor at Nijo Castle’s Ninomaru Palace.

To see the toilet seat's view, go here.