Giddy New Year’s celebrants cheered as the crystal ball dropped in Times Square, signaling the start of 2008 – and the first chance in hours for a bathroom break.
For just about everyone but Hirouyuki Tani and his friends, that is.
“I wear a diaper,” the 30-year-old musician from Tokyo proudly declared, adding that his traveling pals, brothers Taro and Shinsuke Koyama, used the same strategy.
“I asked a girl to join us,” said Shinsuke, also 30. “She said I was crazy, and she didn’t want to wear one.”
There was no denying the need. The city did not provide any portable public bathrooms, and nearby shops were limiting their restrooms to customers or locking them well before the ball drop.
“We’re going to hold it all day,” vowed Suzanne Stoner, 21, of Enola, Pa., who was celebrating her birthday yesterday among dozens of others packed in front of a stage in Times Square. “We don’t want to lose our spot by having to go to the bathroom.”
Melinda Williamson, 42, of Park Slope, took her daughter Lina, 7, to the Charmin store for a bathroom break before its 3 p.m. closing time. Their wait: a mere 20 minutes.
“We thought we’d be smart and stop in when we could,” she said – although Lina whispered, “We could go behind a tree.”
Her mom broke the news that there are no trees in Times Square.
Others turned to the McDonald’s on Seventh Avenue at 47th Street, where nearly 50 women stood in a line that snaked around tables of customers.
“You try to go fast because there are so many people behind you,” said a 14-year-old from Ann Arbor, Mich., who would give her name only as Beixi.
More than a million revelers were estimated to have jammed the Crossroads of the World as the 700-pound ball of wood and iron, alight with 100 energy-efficient incandescent bulbs, dropped down a 77-foot flag poll atop 1 Times Square.
Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez and his pregnant wife, Cynthia, were among them.
“I wanted to be in Times Square because I love New York and my wife and I thought it would be very cool to spend New Year’s on the street with 1 million New Yorkers,” A-Rod told The Post.
New York National Guardsman Peter Latourette, who’ll be deployed to Afghanistan later this month, brought 7-year-old daughter Virginia for the event – and a chance to see her idol, Hannah Montana, one of the performers.
Neither dad nor daughter was disappointed.
“One minute you’re in 2007, and the next you’re in 2008,” the little girl said. “I love the ball, its shining lights and colors – and this year it’s more beautiful than ever.”
As for Dad, he said the NYPD treated him – and everyone else in uniform – like royalty.
Ten-year-old Emily Dominguez came with her family, all natives of Guatemala.
“It makes us feel American,” she beamed.
Sailor Depriest Keenan, 23, of Seattle – who’s been to Afghanistan twice already – said Times Square was exactly where he wanted to be for New Year’s Eve.
“I’m so proud to be an American right now,” he said as a ton of confetti drifted down. “For me, being here on New Year’s mean a celebration of democracy.”
The person chosen to push the button to launch the ball’s descent down the 77-foot flag pole was newly minted Police Officer Karolina Wierzchowska.
The cop, who shared the stage with Mayor Bloomberg, is a Polish immigrant who worked at Ground Zero after 9/11, served with the National Guard in Iraq, and was valedictorian of the latest Police Academy class.
Meanwhile, New York Hospital Queens claimed the first baby of the year, saying Kamiyah Alina Barrow, weighing 8 pounds, 4 ounces, came into the world at the stroke of midnight. She and her proud parents live in Laurelton, Queens.
Additional reporting by Alana Casanova-Burgess, with Post Wire Services