Desperate man in electronics store toilet tweets for paper

naika_tei is a Twitter user and anime song DJ in Tokyo. Last week, he found himself stranded in the third floor toilet of an electronics store in Akihabara with a soiled ass and no toilet paper. So he sent out this tweet: "[Urgently needed] toilet paper in the 3rd floor toilet of Akiba Yodobashi." Five minutes later, he sent another desperate tweet.

18 minutes later, he sends another tweet saying: "The toilet paper arrived safely! Thank you very much!" Hooray for helpful Twitter followers!

via Foolish Gadgets

• [electronick brane]

  Long pre-Twitter, my sister-in-law got locked in the toilet in Morocco, so she rang me in London to say “GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!”
  I think this means Twitter is a step forward…

• [Anonymous]

  Goodbye, LifeCall necklace…

• [Sekonda]

  I’m suprised a robot didn’t crawl out of his phone and wipe his ass for him. Or so my understanding of Japanese Technology goes. c________c

• [AllisonWunderland]

  What? Too stupid to check BEFORE sitting down and cutting loose? This whole scenario just screams of twisted perspective.

• [Anonymous]

  Television sky
  of Akihabara
  no help on the can

• [Cynical]

  Yodobashi staff
  Neglect toilet roll duty
  Wiped arse with Twitter

• [technosean]

  GO INTERNET!!!

• [Elmo Gearloose]

  I tweet to the world:
  Godzilla’s first dump of the day,
  Pants around my knees….

• [Anonymous]

  Hmph. Nakimushi. You are never guaranteed toilet paper in Tokyo public restrooms. Why didn’t he have one of those tissue packs that get handed out on every corner?

• [simonbarsinister]

  Stuck on the toilet
  Calling Twitterverse for help
  Unwanted Flash-Mob.

• [drewmcmanus]

  Is there a Japanese version of

  [regeya]

  Fire! Fire! Help me! 123 Clarendon Road. Looking forward to hearing from you, Maurice Moss.

  • [Felton]

    Hehe! 0118 999 881 999 119 725…3

• [bryanchamp]

  And yet none of my twitter friends respond to my request to find out how much my transformer toys from the 80s are worth…I need to get new twitter friends.

• [Judah]

  Old stall
  Toilet paper rolls in
  Sound of flushing

• [Ian_McLoud]

  I am a germaphobe. I LOVE the idea of an ass-washing toilet. I loathe the idea of a public ass-washing toilet/bidet.

  Are bidets/ass washing toilets common in Japan/Europe?

  (A hotel room – or anywhere I can tell myself was cleaned after the last disgusting soul soiled it – is not public in my little world.)

• [elguapostrikes]

  God bless the internet.

• [robulus]

  …and history documents the first practical use for Twitter.

• [Anonymous]

  There’s performance and there’s, well, performance art.

• [Herbie]

  Yikes! Think of all the evil someone could do, knowing you were stranded and alone in a bathroom.

• [Anonymous]

  If he would of just called the store he could of gotten it quicker lol

  • [benher]

    That wouldn’t be very Akiba-like though.

• [Church]

  Next time someone asks what’s the point of Twitter…

• [Anonymous]

  LOL at calling Yodobashi to ask an employee. Have you guys ever been in an Akihabara Yodobashi? Wal-Mart on the day after Thanksgiving x 1billion!

  Butt-washing toilets are common. But so are toilets that you have to squat over and have no toilet paper.

• [MisterEd]

  Did anyone else instantly think of the Bruce Sterling story, “Maneki Neko”?

  • [Nelson.C]

    First thing I thought of.

    As to the comparative embarrassment of twittering versus calling out for help, it’s my reading of the Japanese personality that twittering would involve less loss of face. On the internet, after all, you have no face.

  • [Chocolatey Shatner]

    No. But I did think instantly of this.

• [Elmo Gearloose]

  I think it’s time for all budding poets to submit their haiku thoughts. Here is my pitiful attempt:

  No toilet paper.
  Tears fall like cherry blossoms–
  out of wi-fi zone.

• [Anonymous]

  Shitter?

• [Anonymous]

  I am reminded of a holiday special of the anime series Dr. Slump, about the heroic quest (with supernatural elements) to get a new roll of toilet paper for the village public toilet.

• [Anonymous]

  Why didn’t he just call the store and ask a staff member to bring him some TP? Probably wouldn’t have taken 20 minutes.

• [Jake Bullet]

  I guess being a twitter shitter isn’t always a bad thing.

  http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/4/23/

• [IamInnocent]

  He was in a toilet but couldn’t wash himself clean. Still could twit though. When I think of all the people who feel smarter because they use social media…

• [benatkin]

  I helped someone out with an Apple power adapter two days ago. Next time he’ll be SOL – I’m going on a twitter hiatus for at least 3 weeks to break my habit of spending too much time on twitter.

• [Anonymous]

  tried to shit
  but i only farted
  now i sit
  brokenhearted

  • [concrete_d]

    I didn’t get a second chance
    Tried to fart and shit my pants

• [Joe]

  +1 for Elmo.

• [risu81]

  I’ve used the 3rd floor restroom at Yodobashi camera many times. You are by no way alone and stranded anytime you are there. Have never dropped the kids off at the pool there, so I do not know if it has a bum washer. The question is which is more embarrassing asking one of the many guys using the urinals or toilet for some toilet paper or broadcasting over the Internet that you have a dirty ass and need a wipe?

• [Anonymous]

  How long would it take for another random person to arrive and just ask that person? I’d think it’d be quicker that way.

• [Nadreck]

  Reminds me of the time I got stuck on the can in the Akihabara LAOX. The toilet (nay, the Throne!) had more buttons on the armrest than Captain Kirk’s bridge chair. After completing my business I looked around and saw that there was no paper. There was, however, a button with a little icon of a happy customer floating on top of a gushing fountain. I pressed that the appropriate nozzle came forth and cleaned me off.

  And kept washing me off and kept washing me off. I couldn’t stand up because then it would soak me and the rest of the room. I couldn’t read the labels on the rest of the buttons or even figure out what their icons meant. So I had to grit my teeth and play Russian Roulette with them: hoping that I wouldn’t stumble across the dreaded “automatic tampon changer” of legend; the fact that this was a Men’s washroom giving me some hope on this count.

  After adjusting the temperature, pressure, pulsation rate and side-to-side oscillation rate of the flow I finally found the “off’ button and staggered out.

• [ToSeeOrNotToSee]

  Thats extra funny, but I guess helpful at the same time!

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    ToSeeOrNotToSee,

    Your URL can go on your profile page, thanks.

• [KremlinLaptop]

  I would have then stood outside the stall door and provided mood music. Never trust the internet to not bring you a creep.

  • [MrScience]

    I hear Rick Astley has some good music to choose from. :)

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  Shouldn’t an electronics store in Akihabara have ass-wash toilets?