日本打造奢華水晶坐便器 價值連城

First, Japan gave the world hi-tech lavatories. Now, a crystal lavatory – studded with more than 72,000 pieces of Swarovski cut crystal and valued at over $100,000 (£64,000)。

Lavatory manufacturer INAX teamed up with the Austrian jeweller to create the ornate fixture, which is on display in a showroom in the posh Ginza shopping district, an effort to draw more customers in a year fraught with economic gloom and natural disaster。

In a nod to traditional belief, the sparkling lavatory was created to please the "god of lavatories," said Kazuo Sumimiya, director of the showroom for the Lixil interior fixture company of which INAX is a part。

"In Japan, we believe a deity exists in the lavatory. That's why keeping lavatories clean and taking good care of it have been a Japanese custom since long ago," he added。

"If we were to sell it, it would probably be worth around 10 million yen ($130,000)."

Visitors admired the dazzling fixture, with one woman saying she'd like to invite her friends and hold a party around it。

But others said it might be a bit too exalted to be useful。

"It'd be hard. I don't think I'd feel comfortable enough to use it even if I had this at home," said 22-year-old Chikako Kawanami, an art museum receptionist。

The lavatory will be on display until the end of December。之前，日本曾發明過高科技坐便器，而今，又推出了水晶坐便器，鑲滿了超過7.2萬顆施華洛世奇切割水晶，價值超過10萬美元(6.4萬英鎊)。

衛生器具生產商INAX與奧地利珠寶公司施華洛世奇共同打造了這款華麗的設備，並在豪華的銀座商業區的一間展覽室中展出，此舉是爲了在被經濟陰霾和自然災害籠罩的一年吸引更多的顧客。

INAX 所屬的Lixil室內設備公司展覽室的主管Kazuo Sumimiya說，爲了向傳統致敬，生產商打造出這個耀目的坐便器來取悅“洗手間女神”。

他補充說：“在日本，我們相傳有女神守護洗手間。這也是爲什麼保持衛生間清潔、打理好衛生間長久以來就是日本的傳統。”

“如果我們出售這個坐便器的話，大概價值在1000萬日元(13萬美元)。”

參觀者都非常欣賞這個眩目的設備，一位女性稱想邀請朋友們來這裏舉辦派對。

但其他人說，這個坐便器太尊貴了，不太實用。

22歲的藝術博物館招待員Chikako Kawanami說：“它太堅硬了。即使我有一個這樣的坐便器在家裏，我也不覺得用起來會很舒服。”

這個坐便器將展出到12月底。