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Don a Poo-Shaped Hat and Go Down a Toilet Slide at This Weird Museum Exhibit

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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

A new exhibit hopes to remove the taboo of “potty talk” — or flush it away — to raise awareness about pressing sewage disposal issues worldwide, as the UN estimates 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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

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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com