√Oh crap. Japan’s oldest toilet destroyed by Japan’s strangest car

The historic outhouse dates back to the 15th century, not unlike the design of the Toyota WiLL Vi…

Japan’s phase of retro-futuristic car design is perhaps most iconically, and curiously illustrated by the 2000 Toyota WiLL Vi.

Available between January 2000 and December 2001, only from select ‘Vista Store’ dealers, and thankfully limited to the Japanese market, the WiLL Vi was based on the XP10 Yaris/Echo but featured wild bodywork in a form of conceptual art-deco neo-modernism that can only be properly described by stringing a series of words together.

The wheel covers were designed to resemble sand-dollar sea urchins and buyers had a choice of pastel colours plus a fabric sunroof, akin to cars like the Citroen 2CV. It’s… unique.

A total of 16,000 Toyota WiLL Vi were sold, a fraction (2 per cent) of the near 700,000 Toyota Yaris (Vitz) produced for Japan over the same two-year lifespan of the car.

A rare and unique vehicle then, to end up in the middle of the oldest known toilet in Japan, at the Tofukuji Temple in Honcho, between Kyoto and Osaka in Japan.

According to a report in The Sankei News, a representative from the Kyoto Association of the Preservation of Ancient Culture accidentally put his Toyota WiLL Vi in reverse and crashed through the wooden doors and pillars of the Tosu, the oldest toilet in Japan (dating back to the 15th century), damaging the century-old structure.

We assume a very awkward conversation followed.

The toilets themselves were not touched, but the 700-year-old Muromachi period wooden doors and supporting pillars on the temple itself were destroyed.

The WiLL seems to have survived the bathroom incursion without too much damage though, and as reported by Sankei News, the temple will be restored.

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