苹果式日本智能马桶走向世界

    日本是一个喜欢小玩意儿的国家，利用科技来创造一种现代感十足的如厕体验是一件非常自然的事情。这种技术最初是马桶座圈的初级加热。之后，日本的卫浴公司便一直在坐便器上增添各种功能，最终在卫洗丽上达到了顶峰。一些特殊型号的坐便器甚至会分析人们的尿液，测量血压，还能通过内置调制解调器将统计数据发送给用户的医生。最新型号甚至可以通过智能手机控制。

    目前，基础款卫洗丽正在努力将先进科技带入家庭最后的防线——洗手间。虽然东陶进行了狂轰滥炸式的宣传，但这家公司在美国的销量一直不温不火。史蒂夫•舍尔是旧金山一家生产智能坐便器的初创公司Brondell的总裁，他表示这在目前只是一个小众市场，仅占美国马桶总销量的1%。但情况正在逐渐好转。他说：“虽然我们有五六年一直销量平平，但过去四年，Brondell和这一类产品销量总体上呈现出增长趋势，我们预计这个趋势仍将继续。”

    《厨房与浴室设计新闻》（Kitchen & Bath Design News）编辑珍妮丝•科斯特认为，最近经济情况好转，对于卫洗丽及其同类产品而言是好消息，高端市场或许会开始增长。她说：“科技正在逐渐走进人们的浴室，从可编程的淋浴设备，到支持蓝牙的淋浴喷头，再到高科技坐便器。消费者对于高科技卫浴产品有浓厚的兴趣，尤其是具有节水功能和豪华特性（如可加热的座圈）的产品增长最快。”

    与此同时，日本的卫浴设备公司仍在继续争抢外国品牌——来自东京的骊住（Lixil）近期收购了美标公司（American Standard），通过以41亿美元收购德国卫浴设备制造商高仪集团（Grohe Group），成功打入了欧洲市场——而且，它还将加大对高科技坐便器的宣传。

    东陶认为，美国老百姓与之前的日本人一样，会逐步选择新设备。上世纪80年代，这家公司花了10年时间才让日本人相信他们需要电动坐便器。骊住也看好自己在美国的前景。

    骊住美国总裁保罗•伯格哈特说：“这只是时间问题，越来越多的美国人会体会到使用高科技马桶所带来的舒适和洁净，日本人爱上高科技马桶已经有50年时间。”

    或许伯格哈特说的对。你可能会回忆起《辛普森一家》（The Simpsons ）中的一个场景：霍默遇到了一个日式坐便器，上面写道：“欢迎光临。很荣幸接收您的便便。”要转变美国普通民众接受这种新的便利，或许要从它的第一次冲洗开始。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓  

    In this gadget-loving country, it seems only natural to the Japanese that technology should be harnessed to create a truly modern lavatorial experience. It all started with an elementary warming of the toilet seat. Since then, Japanese plumbing companies have been loading whistle-and-bell features onto their toilets over the years, and it has reached its zenith in the washlet. Some special-issue toilets even analyze your urine, take your blood pressure, and send the statistics to your doctor via a built-in modem. The latest models can be controlled via smartphone.

    The basic washlet is now at the heart of a fierce battle to bring advanced technology to the final frontier of the home -- the bathroom. But, despite Toto's bombastics, sales are still modest in the U.S. Steve Scheer, president of Brondell, a San Francisco startup that manufactures smart loos, says it's very much a niche market at present, accounting for only 1% of total toilet sales in the U.S. But things are looking up. "While we had about 5-6 years of very flat sales, the last four years have shown substantial growth for Brondell and the product category overall and we expect this trend to continue," he says.

    Janice Costa, editor of Kitchen & Bath Design News, argues that the recent economic upturn has been good for the washlet and its kin, and that the market may be growing at the very high end. "Technology is increasingly gaining a foothold in the bathroom and we're seeing it in everything from programmable showers with blue-tooth-enabled shower heads to high-tech toilets," she says. "There is more interest in high-tech bath products overall, with the greatest growth in water conservation and luxury features (i.e. heated seats)."

    Meanwhile, Japanese bathroom fixture companies continue to snap up foreign brands -- Tokyo-based Lixil bought out American Standard recently, and is establishing itself in Europe with the purchase of German bathroom-fittings maker Grohe Group for about $4.1 billion -- and promotion of its techno-toilets will be ramped up.

    Toto believes the American public, just like the Japanese before them, will adjust gradually to the new fixtures. It took 10 hard years to convince Japanese they needed electro-commodes in the 1980s. Lixil is bullish about its U.S prospects.

    "It is just a matter of time before more Americans experience the comfort and hygiene associated with using the advanced technology bidet toilets that Japan has grown to love for nearly 50 years," says Paul Burghardt president of Lixil USA.

    Burghardt may be right. One might recall an episode of The Simpsons where Homer encounters a Japanese toilet that announces: "Welcome. I am honored to accept your waste." Converting the nation's great unwashed to this new convenience may be well into its first flush already.