日本小城建"世界最大公厕"

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日本市原市宣称的“世界最大厕所”。每个热门旅游城市至少都有一处让旅程物有所值的必看地标。对纽约来说是自由女神像（Statue of Liberty），巴黎是埃菲尔铁塔（Eiffel Tower），里约热内卢有救世主耶稣雕像（Christ the Redeemer），日本首都东京现在则依靠其新建的高耸入云的晴空塔（Skytree）来吸引游客。

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."
东京郊区一个鲜为人知的工业城市也希望用一处景点来吸引大批游客。于是他们修建了“全世界最大的厕所”。

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）偏狭一角的火车站不远处是一个环境宜人的公共厕所，在这里人们可以在大自然中“响应自然的呼唤”，而且还不需要下蹲的压力。与其说是世界最大的厕所，更恰当的夸张说法也许是世界最舒适的厕所。

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).
抽水马桶本身并没有多大。亮点在厕所隔间。厕所由建筑师藤本壮介（Sou Fujimoto）设计，是个共200平米的园林空间，抬头能看到天空，周围是一排排花盆。在这个露天花园式厕所里，有一个两米高的玻璃箱，“宝座”就在里面。（不过对男士来说比较遗憾，这个厕所仅限女士使用。）如果觉得防护玻璃箱太透明，可以把帘子拉下来，对没有安全感的人也是另一重保护（第一重保护是栅栏门）。

Annual operating costs of the luxurious outhouse, and another bathroom nearby, total Y9.87 million, or roughly $125,000.
这个豪华户外厕所以及附近的另一个洗手间每年的运营成本总计987万日圆，约合12.5万美元。

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.
决心要重振当地经济的市原市把旅游业看作是潜在的新的收入渠道。不过首先，他们得改造现有的厕所。有些火车站配备的昭和时代的公厕没有冲水功能，尤其需要更新换代。市原市2010年翻修了三个火车站的旧厕所，并与藤本壮介签约在饭给站（Itabu）设计一个更漂亮的厕所，于是就有了上述那个世界最大的厕所。

"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.
在谈到市原市通过改善接待服务推动旅游业的做法时，该市旅游局官员Eichi Kirikae说，我们想用干净的厕所欢迎游客。据他说，除了有几十名业余摄影师来这里拍季节变化的照片外，游客数量接近于零。他说，这里不是那种有游乐场每天能吸引数千人的地方。

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.
市原市希望这个特大厕所能成为日本的六面旗大冒险主题公园（Great Adventure）。作为推动旅游业计划的一部分，该市正在组织2013年的艺术节。这个“世界最大的厕所”将是其中的一个主要展品。

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.
虽然在别的地方可能有些奇怪，但在日本，将厕所提升到艺术高度没什么值得大惊小怪的。在其他旅游目的地，游客一般都得为不可避免的公厕之旅做好心理准备，而日本的厕所则是私密天堂。马桶装有供电的配电板设施，可以“唱歌”、喷水并加热如厕者的大腿后部。难怪日本Toto Ltd.公司制造卫浴设施的天才们能凭借设计出功能最全的洗手间而获得吉尼斯世界纪录（Guinness World Record）。