A japanese invented a few years ago a 'gizmo' that the Japanese women
could bring to the toilet and activate when they had a pee (or more).
See, the gizmo made the sound of a toilet flush which came in very
handy for the women who were imbaressed of the sounds their bodies
made. The gizmo saved a lot of water because the women normally just
flushed. Now the question:
Who made this invention, is it for real, and when was it invented?

Hi

Yes, this gizmo is for real. It's called the "Sound Princess" or
Otohime and it was invented in about 1990 by Suzue Endo. But it seems
that she wasn't the first Japanese woman to think along these lines.
This magazine article traces things back to the fifteenth century:

"The product was first conceived 12 years ago by Suzue Endo, a Toto
employee. She, too, was a double-flusher. What bothered her was the
enormous amount of water that was being wasted. (On average, one flush
of the toilet requires 13 liters of water.) She thought, however, that
if women had some kind of a noise maker, they might not flush and
needlessly waste water. That was the idea that she pitched to her
bosses at Toto.

The next question was what sound effect to use. "They considered
music, chirping birds and a trickling stream," said Taiki Kiyosue, a
Toto employee in the sales and planning division. "But after
conducting a survey of female employees, they finally settled on a
flushing toilet."

With that, the Otohime was born. But the concept itself is hundreds of
years old. In fact, Japanese aristocratic women may have used such
noisemakers as early as the 15th century. One artifact from that
period is an ornate vase with a spigot that, when opened, splashes
water to drown out the urinary hiss.

By the 17th century Edo Period, upper-class women were opting for a
more human touch. History has it that the wife of Yoshinobu Tokugawa,
last in a line of the ruling Tokugawa shoguns, allegedly dragged an
attendant into the lavatory with her. While the Tokugawa princess
peed, her attendant would swish water about in a bowl."

'Metropolis' English-language magazine 
http://www.metropolis.co.jp/biginjapanarchive349/323/biginjapaninc.htm

If you follow the searches I used to track down this information,
you'll find out everything you ever wanted to know about Japanese
toilets - and more:

://www.google.co.uk/search?q=japanese+toilet+flushing+invention+OR+gizmo&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22sound+princess%22+toilet+japan&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

You're welcome to ask for clarification if necessary.

Regards - Leli