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.

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."

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.

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).

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

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.

"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.

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.

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.