--- title: Tokyo Toilet Exhibit description: Tokyo exhibit boasts poo-shaped hats and a giant slide in a toilet canonical: https://time.com/2969765/don-a-poo-shaped-hat-and-go-down-a-toilet-slide-at-this-weird-museum-exhibit/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-10T11:30:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:33.863Z og:title: Don a Poo-Shaped Hat and Go Down a Toilet Slide at This Weird Museum Exhibit og:description: The Japanese exhibit hopes to raise awareness about a crappy issue og:url: https://time.com/2969765/don-a-poo-shaped-hat-and-go-down-a-toilet-slide-at-this-weird-museum-exhibit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65b3094e34c41ea9/69869b00e8524bb418603cb0/toilet-exhibition-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A staff member wearing a poo-shaped hat poses at a toilet exhibition at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo on July 9, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Don a Poo-Shaped Hat and Go Down a Toilet Slide at This Weird Museum Exhibit twitter:description: The Japanese exhibit hopes to raise awareness about a crappy issue twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65b3094e34c41ea9/69869b00e8524bb418603cb0/toilet-exhibition-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Don a Poo-Shaped Hat and Go Down a Toilet Slide at This Weird Museum Exhibit  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jul 10, 2014 11:30 AM UTC  A staff member wearing a poo-shaped hat poses at a toilet exhibition at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo on July 9, 2014. A staff member wearing a poo-shaped hat poses at a toilet exhibition at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo on July 9, 2014.Toru Yamanaka—AFP/Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jul 10, 2014 11:30 AM UTC A new [exhibit](http://www.miraikan.jst.go.jp/en/spexhibition/toilet/) hopes to remove the taboo of “potty talk” — or flush it away — to raise awareness about pressing [sewage disposal issues](http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/01/30/13-bowls-that-are-way-more-important-than-super-bowl-xlviii/slide/the-toilet-bowl/) worldwide, as the UN [estimates](https://www.un.org/en/events/toiletday/) 2.5 billion people globally do not have access to proper sanitation. People who visit The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo don hats shaped like poop and go down a slide inside a giant toilet that is supposed to simulate the journey of human excrement. Models of different toilets around the globe are also on display. As one visitor [summed up](http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/07/03/sot-japan-tokyo-toilet-museum.cnn.html) the show’s draw, “It’s not every day that you can become feces.” The exhibit is open until Oct. 5.  A staff member wearing a poo-shaped hat poses at a toilet exhibition at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo on July 9, 2014. Toru Yamanaka—AFP/Getty Images  Children play at the 5-meter-tall toilet shaped slider during the 'Toilet!? Human Waste and Earth's Future' exhibition at The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation - Miraikan on July 5, 2014 in Tokyo. The Asahi Shimbun  A child wearing a poo-shaped hat gets up from a giant toilet slide at a toilet exhibition at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo on July 9, 2014. Toru Yamanaka—AFP/Getty Images  A woman walks past a choir of toilets that sing to thank visitors for putting in the effort of trying to learn more about what is normally a taboo topic of sitting on them, at an exhibition titled "Toilet !? Human Waste and Earth's Future" at the Miraikan National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo July 3, 2014. Issei Kato—Reuters ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2969765/don-a-poo-shaped-hat-and-go-down-a-toilet-slide-at-this-weird-museum-exhibit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2969765/don-a-poo-shaped-hat-and-go-down-a-toilet-slide-at-this-weird-museum-exhibit/"},"headline":"Don a Poo-Shaped Hat and Go Down a Toilet Slide at This Weird Museum Exhibit","datePublished":"2014-07-10T11:30:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:33.863Z","description":"The Japanese exhibit hopes to raise awareness about a crappy issue","url":"https://time.com/2969765/don-a-poo-shaped-hat-and-go-down-a-toilet-slide-at-this-weird-museum-exhibit/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65b3094e34c41ea9/69869b00e8524bb418603cb0/toilet-exhibition-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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