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Japan in halftime rush to flush

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japanese football fans, gripped by their team's tense World Cup match against Russia on Sunday, apparently held off on trips to the bathroom until halftime.

During the match, which ended in Japan's first ever World Cup victory, water use was well below normal, Tokyo's metropolitan water authority said on Monday.

But at halftime there was a massive increase in demand, most likely due to synchronised toilet flushing across the capital, home to more than 12 million people.

"Demand for water suddenly leaped during half time and after the match was over," said a spokesman at the Tokyo water office.

"Of course, we don't actually know what people were using the water for, but the period of high demand was very short, so we imagine it was for the toilet."

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