'APP TO HELP PREGNANT WOMEN IN JAPAN'

Thank God for App that helps pregnant women get seats on Japan Metro.

Tokyo : Pregnant women struggle to bag a seat on the famously packed Tokyo subway could find their salvation in a new app connecting them nearby passengers willing to give up their coveted perch.

The digital match-making app being trialled this week on the metro aims to overcome two problems especially prevalent in Japan:
Passengers generally have their nose buried in their phones and talking is strictly frowned upon.

The service allows a pregnant woman to send  a message when she wants a seat.

The app will then look for generous pre-registered users who have said that they are willing to give up their seats. If there's a match, the pregnant women gets a seat map on her screen showing her partner's location.

The xchange can be made without giving personal information to each other. ''This may be particular to Japan, but some people hesitate to speak to a person who may need a seat,

''Many people are also looking at smartphone screens and do not always realise quickly that someone in need is standing nearby. We try to take a advantage of the situation.

The world, and !WOW! are sure that this service will expand to assist elderly and the disabled.

Japan has one of the world's lowest birth rate and authorities are trying out several policies to encourage people to have more children.

Public officials distribute a round pink  ''Maternity Mark''  tag to pregnant women to encourage people around them to be considerate before they start showing.

Some women, however, hesitate to display the tag out of fear that they could be perceived as overly insistent on their rights or insensitive toward people on fertility treatment.