Chạy bộ không còn buồn

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...the new architect-designed public toilets in a park in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. They are made of coloured glass (kính màu) that is transparent (trong suốt), but turns opaque (mờ đục) when the user locks (khóa) the stall (phòng nhỏ, buồng nhỏ). Why? So that users can inspect (kiểm tra) the stall for cleanliness (sạch sẽ), apparently, and check there is no one waiting for them inside. The concept (ý tưởng) is not new: a few London nightclubs have tried the same gimmick (mẹo quảng cáo, mánh lới quảng cáo). It is intriguing (hấp dẫn, gợi thích thú, kích thích sự tò mò), and in the context of public toilets, not as shocking as it seems.

Hard and opaque doors are relatively newfangled (mới, lạ) anyway. Throughout history, privacy (riêng tư, kín đáo) has been the exception not rule (là ngoại lệ, chứ ko phải là nguyên tắc). Wealthy Romans sat in communal toilets (vệ sinh công cộng) and exchanged gossip. In London, the 12th-century Longhouse public toilet had 64 seats for men and 64 for women, and no partitions (ko có vách ngăn). Even in the early 20th century, you could find family outhouses with a big hole and a little one, for companionable toileting. Privacy arrived along with the S-bend, a toilet improvement that removed smell (mostly), so the toilet could be taken inside the house. Now, the right to privacy seems as solid as the door.

Bài trước: 3 điều Thủ tướng Nhật Shinzo Abe thấy hối tiếc