日本小城建"世界最大公廁"大綱

Every hot tourist city has at least one must-see landmark that makes a trip worth taking. For New York it's the Statue of Liberty, for Paris it's the Eiffel Tower, Rio de Janeiro has the statue of Christ the Redeemer and Tokyo is now banking on its soaring new Skytree to bring in visitors.

Ichihara City日本市原市宣稱的“世界最大廁所”。每個熱門旅遊城市至少都有一處讓旅程物有所值的必看地標。對紐約來說是自由女神像（Statue of Liberty），巴黎是埃菲爾鐵塔（Eiffel Tower），里約熱內盧有救世主耶穌雕像（Christ the Redeemer），日本首都東京現在則依靠其新建的高聳入雲的晴空塔（Skytree）來吸引遊客。

A little-known industrial city on the outskirts of Japan's capital, too, wanted an attraction to bring in the masses. That's when they built the "world's largest toilet."

東京郊區一個鮮爲人知的工業城市也希望用一處景點來吸引大批遊客。於是他們修建了“全世界最大的廁所”。

Located a few paces away from a train station in a provincial corner of Ichihara city is a public bathroom oasis where one can be in nature while answering its call - and that doesn't require the stress of squatting. Rather than size, a more apt hyperbole might be world's most pleasant loo.

在市原市（Ichihara）偏狹一角的火車站不遠處是一個環境宜人的公共廁所，在這裏人們可以在大自然中“響應自然的呼喚”，而且還不需要下蹲的壓力。與其說是世界最大的廁所，更恰當的誇張說法也許是世界最舒適的廁所。

The toilet bowl itself is not the Grand Canyon of toilets. The star is the "stall." Designed by architect Sou Fujimoto, it is a 200 square meter landscaped space where the sky is above you and you are surrounded by rows of flower boxes. Within this outdoor garden-cum-porta-potti is a two-meter tall glass box and herein lies the throne. (Unfortunately for the gentlemen, this lavatory is women's only.) There is a curtain that can be pulled should the protective glass encasement feel too transparent as well as another lock for the insecure (the first lock is the fence door).

抽水馬桶本身並沒有多大。亮點在廁所隔間。廁所由建築師藤本壯介（Sou Fujimoto）設計，是個共200平米的園林空間，擡頭能看到天空，周圍是一排排花盆。在這個露天花園式廁所裏，有一個兩米高的玻璃箱，“寶座”就在裏面。（不過對男士來說比較遺憾，這個廁所僅限女士使用。）如果覺得防護玻璃箱太透明，可以把簾子拉下來，對沒有安全感的人也是另一重保護（第一重保護是柵欄門）。

Annual operating costs of the luxurious outhouse, and another bathroom nearby, total Y9.87 million, or roughly $125,000.

這個豪華戶外廁所以及附近的另一個洗手間每年的運營成本總計987萬日圓，約合12.5萬美元。

Determined to revitalize the local economy, Ichihara City is looking to tourism as a potential new revenue stream. But first, they had to update their existing toilets. Several train stations outfitted with Showa-era latrines lacked flushing capabilities and were in particular need of an upgrade. The city renovated the antiquated toilets at three stations in 2010 and contracted Mr. Fujimoto to design a more attractive one at Itabu station where the large lavatory is located.

決心要重振當地經濟的市原市把旅遊業看作是潛在的新的收入渠道。不過首先，他們得改造現有的廁所。有些火車站配備的昭和時代的公廁沒有沖水功能，尤其需要更新換代。市原市2010年翻修了三個火車站的舊廁所，並與藤本壯介簽約在飯給站（Itabu）設計一個更漂亮的廁所，於是就有了上述那個世界最大的廁所。

"We wanted to welcome tourists with clean toilets," said Eichi Kirikae, an official at Ichihara city tourism department, about the city's attempts to improve its hospitality services to bump up tourism. Besides a couple dozen amateur photographers that come to shoot seasonal changes the number of tourists is close to nil, according to Mr. Kirikae."It's not the kind of place that has an amusement park that draws thousands of people every day," he said.

在談到市原市通過改善接待服務推動旅遊業的做法時，該市旅遊局官員Eichi Kirikae說，我們想用乾淨的廁所歡迎遊客。據他說，除了有幾十名業餘攝影師來這裏拍季節變化的照片外，遊客數量接近於零。他說，這裏不是那種有遊樂場每天能吸引數千人的地方。

The city hopes the outsized toilet will be its Great Adventure. As part of its drive to promote tourism, the city is organizing an art festival for 2013. The"world's largest toilet" will be a featured art piece.

市原市希望這個特大廁所能成爲日本的六面旗大冒險主題公園（Great Adventure）。作爲推動旅遊業計劃的一部分，該市正在組織2013年的藝術節。這個“世界最大的廁所”將是其中的一個主要展品。

While it might be strange elsewhere, elevating toilets to an art form is less curious in Japan. Different from other travel destinations where you must steel yourself for the inevitable trip to the public bathroom, Japan's stalls are a boxed-in paradise. The enjoyment is made possible by a switchboard of gadgetry that powers the latrine to sing, spray and warm the backs of your thighs. It's no surprise the Japanese toilet-making wizards at Toto Ltd. hold the Guinness World Record for creating the toilet with the most functions.

雖然在別的地方可能有些奇怪，但在日本，將廁所提升到藝術高度沒什麼值得大驚小怪的。在其他旅遊目的地，遊客一般都得爲不可避免的公廁之旅做好心理準備，而日本的廁所則是私密天堂。馬桶裝有供電的配電板設施，可以“唱歌”、噴水並加熱如廁者的大腿後部。難怪日本Toto Ltd.公司製造衛浴設施的天才們能憑藉設計出功能最全的洗手間而獲得吉尼斯世界紀錄（Guinness World Record）。