Passengers faced an uncomfortable wait for their flights at one of the world's busiest airports on Friday, with up to 70% of the toilets at Tokyo International Airport's Terminal 2 reportedly blocked.
A spokesperson for the airport operator confirmed the plumbing problem and said that, by mid-afternoon, 51 out of 144 toilet areas were still affected.
The cause was electrical problems with pumps supplying water to the facilities, the spokesperson for Japan Airport Terminal said on condition of anonymity.
"We were notified by a staff around 5 a.m." and the problem took 11 hours to resolve, the spokesperson said.
"Running water was available at sinks, where people wash their hands, but not at many toilets," he said.
"Our staff directed our guests to functioning toilets. In some cases, our staff used buckets to wash toilets after use."
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