對於日式廁所,你怎麼看?

TOKYO — Between the futuristic "BladeRunner"-esque toilets and the slightly terrifying (but healthier for you)traditional squatters, Japanese restrooms can be a bit intimidating for afirst-time user. And even for those who have lived in Japan for a while, usinga public toilet can still be a daunting task. So to better understand restroom woes for those coming from overseas, Japanese toilet manufacturer Toto recently surveyed 600 foreigners living in Japan about toilets in the country and what confuses them most.

東京——在未來式的“銀翼殺手”式的廁所和有點令人恐懼的（但對你來說更加健康的）傳統蹲廁之間，日本廁所對於首次使用者來說可能有點嚇人。即使對於那些在日本已經住過一段時間的人來說，使用日本的公廁仍然是令他們感到畏懼的。所以爲了更好的瞭解外國人在使用日本公廁時所遭受的痛苦，日本廁所製造商Toto（東陶公司）最近對生活在日本的600名外國人進行了採訪。

First up on Toto's toilet survey was aquestion about toilet choice. That is, if you were at a public restroom with Western-style (aka one you sit on) or traditional Japanese squat toilets, which stall would you go into? Unsurprisingly, over 80% answered that they preferred to sit rather than next question asked those surveyed to think back to when they first came to Japan and to remember the biggest problems they had when answering the call of nature in a public restroom. Mostpeople said that they had no idea how to use a Japanese squat toilet when theyfirst saw one. Even foreigners who came from countries with squat toilets werea little confused exactly how to use the Japanese ones. One of the Americanspolled said that he actually thought you were supposed to sit right on the toilet bowl.

這個調研中的第一個問題有關於廁所的選擇。即在一個同時擁有西式座圈馬桶和傳統日本蹲式廁位的公廁裏時，你會選擇哪一個？不出所料，超過80%的外國人都更喜歡坐式的。第二個問題是要求這些外國人回想自己第一次來日本時在使用公廁時所遇到的最大問題。大部分人回答說他們首次看到蹲式側位時根本不知道要如何使用蹲式廁所。即使是那些來自擁有蹲式廁所的國家的外國人也不是很清楚要怎麼使用日本式的蹲式廁所。其中一位美國人說他以爲是要直接坐在日式蹲廁的坐便器上。

And besides the squatters, many people recalled their utter confusion the first time they sat down on a modernJapanese "washlet" toilet (see photo below). The many buttons on the seat ornearby control panel overwhelmed many and utterly confused people used tosimpler toilets that don't need to be plugged in. And until you can read Japanese, you have to rely on the little drawings that still won't help you outmuch. The futuristic toilets of Japan may look cool, but many people were intimidated at first.

除了蹲式廁所，很多人還回憶了首次坐在日本現代式的“衛洗麗”坐便器上。坐便器或者說附近控制板上的那麼多按鍵讓很多人無所適從。除非你懂日文，否則僅靠上面的一些圖示真是相當困難。這種未來式的日本廁所看起來可能很酷，但是很多人第一次使用時都被嚇到了。

When asked about if they use the bidet function on the modern Japanese toilets, the number one answer was that it dida good job of cleaning up and some said they even preferred the bidet to toilet paper. And for others, they liked to use the bidet because they were alreadyused to using water via the bum gun to clean themselves in their home country.

當被問及是否使用過其中的坐浴盆功能時，人們最多的回答是這種功能確實很利於清潔，有些人說比起廁紙他們更喜歡使用這種清潔功能。而有些人回答說他們之所以喜歡使用這種功能，是因爲在他們自己國家他們就已經習慣這麼做了。

Perhaps the answer that should make Japan the proudest was when 93.6% of those surveyed said that Japanese publics are cleaner than those back home. And at the end of the day, even with the squatting and the confusing computer-like toilets, you can't argue with a nice,clean public restroom.

或許最讓日本人感到驕傲的回答是有93.6%的人說日本公廁比自己國家的公廁都更加乾淨。雖然傳統和現代的日本公廁讓這些外國人在首次使用時有點不太適應，但是日本公廁的乾淨美好是無可置疑的。