苹果式日本智能马桶走向世界

    不论你怎么形容日本人，现在他们可以宣称自己有全世界最干净的屁股。这要归功于他们的一项科技奇迹——卫洗丽。

    多年来，日本人一直习惯于蹲式卫生间。在这样的卫生间里，人们的如厕专用拖鞋（没错，日本人有如厕专用的拖鞋）可能会掉到充满恶臭、粗糙的污水管道中。如今，日本人发明了一件科技神器，让马桶污垢消失无踪，他们还希望把这种产品卖到全世界。

    有人称它为卫洗丽，有人叫它太空盥洗室或者智能卫马桶。总之，这类器具在座便器的旁边有一个面板，可以控制座便器像自动坐浴盆一样，用温水和暖风清洗人体，再也不需要厕纸。这类器具的价格从650美元到2,000美元不等，深受麦当娜和乌比•戈德堡的喜爱。

    虽然价格昂贵，而且对不同的身体机能也有不同的反应，但卫洗丽依然在日本之外、甚至在美国市场也取得成功。美国人一直认为坐浴盆是欧洲人的特色，是放纵堕落的表现。不过，令人意外的是，最初的坐浴盆实际是美国人的发明，是为残疾人和老年人所设计的。

    走在智能马桶领域前列的是日本的东陶公司（Toto）。公司一位发言人曾说：“可以说，我们基本上就是马桶界的苹果（Apple）公司。”他们已经横扫国内市场，如今正瞄准美国市场。不过，它的竞争对手已经出现。科勒（Kohler）的纽密（Numi）坐便器，零售价约为5,000美元。它采用免触式自动开盖技术，支持蓝牙音乐播放功能，以及触摸屏遥控器。

    东陶美国总裁戴维•M•克拉科夫称：“最近卫洗丽的销售额超过3,000万，不仅在日本，甚至已经在全世界流行开来。在北美，我们的卫洗丽的销量以每年15%左右的速度增长，远远超过整个卫浴行业的增长速度。”上世纪90年代，东陶将卫洗丽引进了美国市场。他说：“我们认为东陶可以算得上这个产品品类中的霸主。”

    或许东陶有些自夸。这家公司年销售额约为51亿美元，在全球有69个办事处，超过20,000名员工，是全球最大的卫生管道制造商。东陶并未提供卫洗丽在美国的销售数据。

    有人或许会说现在的高科技马桶是日式礼仪和品位的产物。东陶的卫洗丽包括摇摆的、有规律的水流，座圈温度可以调节，有暖风干燥器，座圈上涂有氧化银可防止细菌滋生，配有除臭器，遥控器，用于自动冲洗的近距离传感器，以及自动开关座圈等功能。最后一个功能甚至被戏称为“婚姻救星”。它甚至还有防臭瓷砖，以及用于男士小便器的捕蝇装置，使用热感墨水制成。

    目前，大多数日本人的生活都离不开这些科技。73%的日本家庭都有这种高科技坐便器——数量是日本拥有洗碗机的家庭的两倍。看到这个你就会明白，在日本这个将“干净”等同于“美丽”的国家，排在第一位的到底是什么。高科技坐便器在日本如此普遍，以至于许多日本人面对西方仅用厕纸的厕所时会不知所措，他们在旅行的时候也会带一个手掌大小的便携式电子坐浴盆。

    Say what you will about the Japanese, but they can lay claim to the world's cleanest posteriors. For this, they have a technological wonder to thank -- the washlet.

    After years of squat lavatories where your toilet slippers -- yes, Japan has special slippers for toilets -- could disappear into rank and primitive plumbing, the Japanese have created a filth-free temple to techno-power and want to share it with the world.

    Some call it the washlet, others the space lavvy or smart loo, but all of these appliances sport a panel by the lavatory that controls automatic bidet- style cleansing with warm water and warm air, doing away with the need for toilet paper altogether. Prices range from about $650 to nearly $2,000 and are lusted over by the likes of Madonna and Whoopi Goldberg.

    Despite high prices and very different attitudes to bodily functions, washlets are finding success outside of Japan and even in the U.S. where, until recently, bidets were once viewed as singularly European and symbols of sybaritic depravity. It may come as a surprise, perhaps, as the original bidet technology was American -- designed for people with disabilities and the elderly.

    Leading the charge to deliver smart loos to the world is Japan's Toto. "Basically, we're the Apple (AAPL) computers of toilets," says a spokesman. The company has cleaned up at home and is now tackling the Americas. It already faces competition, though. Kohler's Numi, which retails for around $5,000, features hand-free seat opening tech, Bluetooth-enabled music streaming capabilities, and a touchscreen remote.

    "Over 30 million washlet sales later and the washlet's popularity is taking off all over the world, not only in Japan. In North America, our Washlet sales generally grow about 15% per year, which is considerably more than the overall plumbing fixtures industry tends to grow," claims David M. Krakow president of Toto USA. Toto introduced Washlets to the United States in the 1990s. "We consider this product category to be something Toto owns," he says.

    Toto might well brag. With annual sales of $5.1 billion and over 20,000 employees in 69 offices globally, Toto is the world's largest plumbing manufacturer. Toto did not offer U.S. washlet sales figures.

    You might say today's high-tech privies are a product of the delicacy of Japanese manners and taste. Toto's washlets include oscillating and pulsating streams of water, seats with adjustable temperatures, warm air dryers, seats with silver oxide to fight bacteria, deodorizers, remote controls, a proximity sensor with automatic flushing, and automatic opening and closing seats. The latter is being dubbed the "marriage savior." There are even odor-fighting tiles and fly decoys made of thermal ink for urinals.

    Most Japanese now cannot live without such tech. A prodigious 73% of Japanese homes have a high-tech toilet -- that is double the average of dishwashers in Japanese homes to give you an idea of priorities in a country where "clean" is synonymous "beautiful." So ubiquitous are high-tech toilets that some Japanese, unable to cope with Western paper-only lavatories, take a hand-sized portable electric bidet with them when traveling.