do giant robots poop?

today was a short but very interesting day. i visited the unko (poop) museum, which is probably not what you are imagining. i would try to describe it, but i think the photos will speak a thousand words here. i also visited the giant gundam statue, which i was not planning on doing until i found it by accident walking around. it’s kind of hard to miss. and i took another stroll around hatanodai.

I started my day taking a series of trains to tokyo teleport station, and then walked to the divercity (not diversity, diver city) tokyo plaza mall in odaiba.

it was about a 35 minute trip. i am staying pretty close to that Senzokuike park on the above map.

on the short walk from tokyo teleport station to the divercity mall, i saw this cool building:

no idea what it is, but its very cool looking.

i did not realize when i booked the ticket, but the unko museum is actually pretty small. it is the size of a store in a shopping mall (because it is basically a store in a shopping mall). If anyone reading this has ever been to omega mart in las vegas, this is a lot like omega mart, only a bit smaller and poop themed instead of grocery store themed.

as a reminder, unko means poop.

the experience begins by being packed into a very very small room while someone explains the exhibit in japanese. there are some slides with english on them, but not everything was. i got the gist of it though. then they make everyone in the room chant:

unko!

a few times. this got the children in the group very excited.

next, we were shuffled into a narrow hallway lined with toilets. the hallway was very narrow and the lens i had on my camera was a 25mm that could not zoom out any further, so these photos are a bit too zoomed in to really get a sense of it.

they made everyone sit on the toilets and once more chant:

unko!

Then, when you stand up, there is a plastic poop for you to take with you as a souvenir. they also give you a little wooden stick to put the poop on. both are pictured here:

once that was over, you walk out and get to the main attractions. there is a giant ball pit for kids to jump around in, and some smaller exhibits to look at around it.

i don’t know this man’s name but i find him upsetting.

there was also a section called the “unteractive” zone that features a bunch of poop themed games you can play. it was extremely swarmed and i didn’t spend any time there. one of the games featured a microphone where you scream the word unko as loud as you can, and the louder you scream it, the further a poop flies through the air. the goal being to fling the furthest poop. so naturally this entire experienced was set to the “as loud as i possibly can” screams of children, teenagers, and adults alike. it was definitely an experience.

the exit is a giant toilet seat with this terrifying creature next to it:

as is expected, you exit through the gift shop. the gift shop was somewhat of a disappointment, but only because i was hoping to find something for my friend’s toddler who will be toilet training soon. but this gift shop was more tailored towards just like the weirdest stuff. a poop hat, for example.

that being said, there was one incredible find at this gift shop. as you may know, i collect weird earrings. i found the weirdest earrings i will ever find:

earrings of the word unko in japanese. truly a legendary find. ain’t no way i will ever put these on while i am in japan, but i’m excited to have them when i get back.

next, i left and walked around the mall, hoping to find somewhere to grab lunch. but as i was walking around, i found the mugiwara store, a store for one piece merchandise.

this was an awesome find because i was looking for a souvenir of a character named Jinbe for my coworker. i am not super familiar with one piece, but i was able to find exactly what i was looking for:

souvenir shopping out of the way, i continued looking for lunch. but then, my roommates called me to say hello. and i am glad they did, because if they hadn’t called, i wouldn’t have stepped outside and seen this:

from what i understand, this statue transforms at certain points in the day. i am not sure what the other form looks like, as i am completely unfamiliar with gundam.

im also glad i stepped outside because the area around this mall is wide open and very nice. it was a breath of fresh air, because so much of tokyo is tightly packed giant buildings or very narrow streets. it was refreshing to have a wide open space to walk around in.

i got a shot of this building i saw earlier from the other side. still no idea what the building is, but the architecture is very interesting.

i went crazy on the editing on this one, but it turned out really cool.

i never found a place to get lunch here, but my feet were killing me from all the walking i did yesterday, so i needed to get back home.

i took a couple trains back home and got some more pictures in hatanodai

this is the sewer grate that ate my ring the day i arrived.

i was still hungry, and i knew i had to try japanese mcdonalds once while i was in japan. i figured today was the day. my feet were killing me and it was close to home. i ordered a “soy sauce double-thick burger”, french fries, and a coke mcfloat. they have floats at japanese mcdonalds!

all this came to ¥1,596, which is $10.54. significantly cheaper than a comparable order at american mcdonalds.

my review of japanese mcdonalds is that it is exactly the same as american mcdonalds, only with way better menu items. i would order the soy sauce burger in america for sure. they also have teriyaki burgers, which i bet are amazing.

i also noticed that (at least at this mcdonalds) many people were treating it like americans would a starbucks. there were many people there who just ordered coffee and were working on their laptops.

i finally made it home and crashed hard. i woke up again at around 4:00 am and went for another walk through hatanodai.