Close up of pants around businessman’s ankles in restroom. Photo: LWA/Sharie Kennedy (Getty)
With a culture obsessed with its own brand of football, it’s hard for Americans to truly appreciate the radical fandom that permeates around the globe during World Cup play. Hell, just one group of fans drank an entire Russian city dry.
Host country of this year’s World Cup isn’t the only place experiencing extreme cause and effects from the tournament. During last week’s Japan-Columbia game, so many Japanese fans in Tokyo used the restroom at halftime it nearly broke the city’s plumbing system.
According to the Japan Times, armchair fanatics nearly triggered a plumbing disaster of “biblical proportions” when millions sprinted to the loo at halftime, propelling the country’s water use by 24 percent in a matter of minutes.
“We presume it’s because a lot of people holding off on a trip to the bathroom all went at once,” an official (Tokyo waterworks) said.
“Water use can fluctuate, especially during football matches, which only have one break in the middle,” she added.
“It also can be affected by a period of time, excitement and other factors.”
If the World Cup is causing enough “excitement” to end modern-day plumbing, we’re in trouble.
Japan won the match 2-1. That excitement resulted in a 50 percent spike in water use.
Related: Here’s How Much Money The World Cup Champs Will Make
Thank God, by that point, Tokyo saw pee-pocalypse coming. “Anticipating” the toilet-blitzkrieg, they adjusting the city’s supply and pressure to accommodate.
Spread the word — don’t drink and drive, don’t do drugs, and for god’s sake don’t hold your pee during the World Cup.
We live in strange times.
Josh Helmuth is a sports reporter in St. Louis who contributes to Mandatory.
