Need a pee? Japan has QR code for that

A worker at an assembly line of the Washlet Techno factory of Japanese toilet manufacturer TOTO in To Yuichi YAMAZAKI

Japanese toilet giant TOTO has launched a service allowing those caught short in public to locate the nearest washrooms and see how busy they are real-time with a phone and QR code.

Japan like other countries struggles with managing long queues outside public toilets, particularly for women, in its teeming train stations and other places.

The system launched this month by TOTO -- famous for its water-spraying, musical toilets -- links consumers up with existing internet-connected facility management systems.

This was developed to automatically notify facility staff if a particular cubi

Now users can scan a QR code with their phones to access a website showing restroo