Dec 02 (rocketnews24.com) - With pretty much the busiest mass transit system in the world, Tokyo also has some seriously huge subway stations. Major hubs in the Tokyo area are made up of seemingly endless corridors connecting various lines, shopping centers, and restaurant rows, and some are so complex that they can literally double as RPG dungeon maps.
Tokyo Metro is making it easier to procure public-use pooping places. As of December 1, you can use your smartphone to check, in real time, which bathrooms in Ikebukuro Station have vacant stalls.
The newly added Toilet Vacancy Information Provision Service of the official Tokyo Metro App lets you know both the total number of stalls and how many are currently unoccupied for the restrooms located near the Marunouchi, Yurakucho, and Fukutoshin Line platforms, as well as the Echika Ikebukuro shopping complex. The information is updated constantly by sensors which register whether the stall doors are closed (and thus the stalls occupied), then send the data to Tokyo Metro’s server, which relays it to users of the app. So don’t worry, there’re no cameras involved, so it’s not like the app relies on facial recognition software to determine how many people are making a pooping face at any given time.
