The Future as Told By China's Bathrooms

The road to an export-led US recovery may run through the bathrooms of the Chinese plutocracy. According to an article by Patti Waldmeir that ran in this newspaper on Tuesday, the Chinese are fussy about toilets the way other nations are fussy about cars. The Kohler company of Wisconsin is eager to serve them. Its new “Numi” toilet, which retails for $6,400, has heated footrests, adjustable seats, variable bidet spray, a custom-lit toilet bowl and a remote control through which one can access Skype. An infomercial for the Numi has got several hundred thousand hits on YouTube. Although Kohler intends to market the Numi worldwide, part of the design was done in China, which accounts for a fifth of the company’s revenues. It is a sign that China, after long fascinating the world’s policymakers, is beginning to exert a pull on the world’s consumers.