Sometime last year, one of my pen pals was telling me that when she was a child and would watch scary movies, she was afraid to go to the toilet at night. At the time, I just thought "wtf?" and didn't really say anything about it.
But then just now, I came across this sentence in KO2001: 子供のころ怖い話を聞くと、1人でトイレに行けなかった(When I was a child, I would not be able to go to the toilet if I heard a horror story.)

What are they afraid of? The toilet monster going to pull them in?

Ummm I remember hearing that the reason was that, there were kids that tended to go to the washroom in some deserted warehouse place and the toilet for some reason had a big hole in place of the actually toilet. Some kids fell in and never came out. Unno I think this is just a folk tale (I can't explain it in detail as I don't remember it exactly.)

I don't think it's so much that; even in modern houses, a child still has to get up out of bed, go into the dark hallway, and walk to wherever the toilet is. It's pretty much the only normal reason a child would have to get up in the night and leave their room, so it's not surprising to see it as a fearful situation.

It could also have something to do with ghost/horror stories like トイレの花子さん

When I was a kid horror movies would make me afraid to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It was the bathroom mirrors that always freaked me out...

Once after watching a scary movie, I went to the bathroom -- which was scary enough in itself -- but then I heard something outside and got freaked out. I locked the bathroom door, and went into the closet in the bathroom. I slept in there, and woke up to my parents pounding on the bathroom door in the morning.

I wouldn't say it's too weird to be afraid to go to the bathroom after watching scary movies.

Asriel Wrote:Once after watching a scary movie, I went to the bathroom -- which was scary enough in itself -- but then I heard something outside and got freaked out. I locked the bathroom door, and went into the closet in the bathroom. I slept in there, and woke up to my parents pounding on the bathroom door in the morning.

I wouldn't say it's too weird to be afraid to go to the bathroom after watching scary movies.

I agree, I remember, at night when I needed to go the washroom as a kid I got scared cuz it was so dark and only the washroom light was on. I guess this was from playing those horror games as a kid urghh resident evil games/silent hill games. Although I actually do like those games now that I'm older. Damn 10 years can pass so fast.

Hm... weird. When I was a kid, it was always my bedroom that was the scary place. Actually, sometimes if I was really scared, I would actually get up and go to the bathroom, just because I knew once I got in there, I could turn on a light.

If you have been to Japan, and you aren't afraid of toilets, you are a braver soul than I.

This kanji has protected me many times:Fear the Japanese Toilet

I always thought that monsters would come through the pipes to get me in the bathroom.

W.....T.....F.....

@_@

I assume they are afraid of walking around the house at night, in the dark, after watching a scary movie, not afraid of the bathroom itself.

I can understand being afraid of the toilet. If we used to think the toilet was scary, imagine the kids who have to use an outhouse in the middle of the night. O_o

I'm a little afraid of spiders in the toilet. I have arachnophobia, so the thought of a spider crawling on my ass is pretty.. unpleasant.

But a quick prelim check usually clears things up, and I just try not to think about it.

Are Americans afraid of the dark?

kazelee Wrote:Are Americans afraid of the dark?

My electricity bill is always really high because I leave on every light in the house on at all times. I even leave the refrigerator door open all night, so that light is on too

kazelee Wrote:Are Americans afraid of the dark?

I'm not afraid of the dark so much as I feel tense when I unknowingly stumble into a horror movie setpiece. It happens more often than you'd think.

yudantaiteki Wrote:I don't think it's so much that; even in modern houses, a child still has to get up out of bed, go into the dark hallway, and walk to wherever the toilet is. It's pretty much the only normal reason a child would have to get up in the night and leave their room, so it's not surprising to see it as a fearful situation.

This is how I understood it, too.

Lately I've become interested in japanese 都市伝説 and 学校の怪談, and it seems that there are plenty of stories that share the bathroom as a setting, though most of them are variation of either トイレの花子さん or 赤い紙、青い紙. Actually, the location is usually a school restroom or a public bathroom, so I'm not sure how it relates with the OP question.
What I found intriguing rather than the location is that there is (supposedly) a connection between these two 怪談 and school examinations: according to wiki in 赤い紙、青い紙 whichever answer you choose leads to a terrible outcome, which can be interpreted as a manifestation of the fear of a student confronted with a question which he doesn't know how to answer. Moreover, in some versions when facing トイレの花子さん you can make her disappear by showing a test answer sheet where you got full marks.
Sorry if I went OT, just thought it was interesting.

Wow... I'm strange.
When I had nightmares I would sleep IN the bathroom...with blanky.

I guess it depends on the bathroom.　(笑)

As some posters already said, it's not the bathroom that is scary. The guy in the example sentence couldn't go to the bathroom when he was a little kid because it was scary to get up and walk alone in the dark in the middle of the night, especially after watching a horror movie and such.

Going to the bathroom is a common, realistic situation where a little kid should walk alone in the dark, and it's kind of a typical situation associated with "kids get scared." So you'll often come across jokes and stuff referring to this in dramas, manga, anime, novels, and whatnot, e.g., a guy tells a horror story to a girl, and she gets scared. And he says, "I bet you can't go to the bathroom alone tonight." And she replies, "I'm not a kid!"

Is this the kind of thing native speakers would never fail to get but foreigners can miss because the association is unique to Japanese culture? I never thought anyone would take the sentence that the kid was afraid of the bathroom. I wonder what the typical thing is that kids can't do alone when they are scared after hearing a horror story and such in your culture.

magamo Wrote:I wonder what the typical thing is that kids can't do alone when they are scared after hearing a horror story and such in your culture.

Sleep in their own bed with the lights off.

I guess I never really understood what the problem was with walking to the bathroom in the dark because, well, if you are sleeping in your room, you are ALREADY in the dark, are you not?

Zarxrax Wrote:

magamo Wrote:I wonder what the typical thing is that kids can't do alone when they are scared after hearing a horror story and such in your culture.

Sleep in their own bed with the lights off.

I guess I never really understood what the problem was with walking to the bathroom in the dark because, well, if you are sleeping in your room, you are ALREADY in the dark, are you not?

Because beds are safe, duh. You can hide from the darkness underneath the covers, which offer absolute protection from monsters.

Hey, nobody ever said kids were known for their logic.

Mcjon01 Wrote:Because beds are safe, duh. You can hide from the darkness underneath the covers, which offer absolute protection from monsters.

Hey, nobody ever said kids were known for their logic.

It worked for me. I was never attacked while protected by my invisibility cloaking blanket.

Mcjon01 Wrote:Because beds are safe, duh. You can hide from the darkness underneath the covers, which offer absolute protection from monsters.

This doesn't apply to the generation that grew up with the Grudge/Ju-On. Besides, monsters live under the bed and in the closet. Their presence is felt even if they're not in bed with you.

Returning to the topic of being afraid of bathrooms, many horror movie scenes are set in bathrooms (Psycho, Grudge/Ju-On, The Shining, etc). This doesn't exactly allow for positive associations. Not to mention, the bathroom is a claustrophobic room with only a single entrance. If you were to be attacked in the bathroom, there's little chance for escape. Furthermore, using the bathroom leaves you vulnerable - literally, with your pants down. In short, the bathroom is a dreadful place to be if you're afraid. It's no surprise that someone would be scared of the bathroom after watching a horror movie.