為什么美國在廁所技術(shù)上落后了

為什么美國在廁所技術(shù)上落后了

I just got back from my first trip to Japan, and I'm now in love with the country. The ramen, yakitori and sushi. The gorgeous volcanoes. The fascinating people and culture. But of all the things I fell in love with, there's one that I can't stop thinking about: the toilets.

我剛從日本旅行回來，我現(xiàn)在愛上了這個國家。拉面、烤雞肉串和壽司。華麗的火山。迷人的人和文化。但在我愛上的所有東西中，有一樣是我無法停止思考的:廁所。

Japanese toilets are marvels of technological innovation. They have integrated bidets, which squirt water to clean your private parts. They have dryers and heated seats. They use water efficiently, clean themselves and deodorize the air, so bathrooms actually smell good. They have white noise machines, so you can fill your stall with the sound of rain for relaxation and privacy. Some even have built-in night lights and music players. It's all customizable and controlled by electronic buttons on a panel next to your seat.

日本廁所是技術(shù)創(chuàng)新的奇跡。他們有集成的坐浴盆，可以噴水來清潔你的私處。他們有烘干機和加熱座椅。他們高效用水，自我清潔，并去除空氣中的氣味，所以衛(wèi)生間的氣味真的很好聞。他們有白噪音機器，所以你可以為了放松或隱私性用雨聲填充你的小隔間，放松和隱私。有些甚至有內(nèi)置的夜燈和音樂播放器。這一切都是可定制的，由座位旁邊面板上的電子按鈕控制。

In Japan, these high-tech toilets are everywhere: hotels, restaurants, bus stations, rest stops and around 80% of homes. It's glorious. Then, I come back to the United States, our toilets basically have one feature: flush. No heated seats. No nice smells and sounds. No sanitizing blasts of liquid. It's like cleaning your dishes without water. It's gross. And it got me thinking: Why can't we have high-tech toilets too?

在日本，這些高科技廁所無處不在：酒店、餐館、汽車站、休息站和大約80%的家庭。棒極了。之后，我回到美國，我們的廁基本上只有一個功能：沖洗。沒有加熱座位。沒有美妙的氣味和聲音。不需要對液體進行消毒。這就像在沒有水的情況下洗碗一樣。太惡心了。這讓我思考：為什么我們不能也有高科技廁所呢?

Most of the toilets in Japan are made by a company called Toto, which started the high-tech toilet revolution in 1980 when it unveiled the Washlet, a first-of-its-kind electric toilet seat with an integrated bidet.

日本的大多數(shù)馬桶都是由一家名為Toto的公司制造的，該公司在1980年推出了第一款帶有集成坐浴盆的電動馬桶座圈，開啟了高科技馬桶革命的序幕。

Toto has been innovating on the design ever since. So I reached out to the company. It put me in touch with Bill Strang, the president of corporate strategy and e-commerce at Toto USA. "U.S. toilets are effectively bedpans with a drain," says Strang.

從那以后，Toto在設(shè)計上不斷創(chuàng)新。所以我聯(lián)系了公司。這讓我取得了與比爾·斯特朗的聯(lián)系，他是Toto美國公司戰(zhàn)略和電子商務(wù)總統(tǒng)。斯特朗說:“美國的廁所實際上是帶排水管的便盆。”

Strang is originally from the Midwest, and he joined Toto 17 years ago. That's when he had his first experience with the Washlet bidet, and it was much like mine. It began with "apprehension, a little bit of angst," he says. But then he pushed the spray button and had a joyous sensation. The bathroom would never be the same.

斯特朗來自中西部，17年前加入Toto公司。那就是他第一次體驗浴盆，和我的很像。開始時“恐懼，一點點焦慮，”他說。但隨后他按下了噴霧按鈕，產(chǎn)生了一種愉悅的感覺。浴室就完全變了。。

The Washlet has been for sale in the U.S. since 1990. but it never took off. While Toto has found success with its traditional porcelain products (and manufactures them in the U.S. and Mexico), the Washlet remains a novelty, found mostly at some high-end hotels, showrooms and Japanese restaurants.

自1990年以來浴盆一直在美國銷售，但一直沒有成功。雖然Toto的傳統(tǒng)瓷器產(chǎn)品取得了成功(并在美國和墨西哥生產(chǎn))，但浴盆仍然是一種新鮮事物，主要出現(xiàn)在一些高端酒店、展廳和日本餐廳。

Economists spend a lot of time analyzing how and why technology spreads from one place to another. They call it "technology diffusion." One study looked at the spread of 20 technologies across 161 countries over the last 140 years, and it found evidence that geographic distance significantly slows the spread of new gadgets.

經(jīng)濟學(xué)家花了很多時間分析技術(shù)如何以及為什么從一個地方傳播到另一個地方。他們稱之為“技術(shù)擴散”。一項研究考察了過去140年里161個國家20項技術(shù)的傳播情況，發(fā)現(xiàn)有證據(jù)表明，地理距離大大減緩了新科技產(chǎn)品的傳播。

It fits with the pattern we see with high-tech toilets. Strang says that after Japan, high-tech toilets have mostly spread to nations along the Pacific Rim.

它符合我們看到的高科技廁所的模式。斯特朗說，繼日本之后，高科技廁所大多已蔓延到太平洋沿岸國家。

But the speed of technology dispersion has sped up significantly in the modern era. Another study found that the spread of technologies developed after 1925 has been three times faster than the spread of those developed before 1925. That makes sense, with modern transportation and communication and all.

但在現(xiàn)代，技術(shù)擴散的速度明顯加快。另一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，1925年后發(fā)展起來的技術(shù)傳播速度比1925年前發(fā)展起來的技術(shù)傳播速度快三倍。這是有道理的，因為有了現(xiàn)代交通和通訊等等。