The Toilet Museum

By Nicholas Mosher

Image taken from Haewoojae.com

Huh… That building kind of looks like a toilet.  It is supposed to be one. Well, not a functioning one but a toilet nonetheless.  Who would want to live here you ask?  The one and only, the Mr. Toilet of South Korea.  Sim Jae-Duck is known as Mr. Toilet in South Korea where he became famous for his life’s work with the potty.
It has been rumored that Sim Jae-Duck was born in an outhouse where he then grew up realizing just how crappy and unsafe the bathrooms in South Korea were.  Sim decided to produce toilets that now have become standard around South Korea. This has lead to cleaner areas for people to let loose and ultimately enjoy their privacy.  Mr. Toilet had said that the toilet is the place where majority of one’s deep thoughts come from. He also founded the World Toilet Association and wrote a book called “Happy to be with You.”  His popularity took off when he supplied the toilets for the World Cup held in South Korea in 2002.  After that he became the major of Suwan, where his toilet inspired house was built.  This man has had a real ‘turd to triumph’ life until 2009 when he passed away.
His house was donated to the city of Suwan where it has now been turned into a museum dedicated to… you guessed it… the toilet.  The museum is only part of the whole toilet themed park.  There are several statues around the park that relate to the loo in any way such as a very large, bronze poop in front of the building.

Image taken from whittlescanwobble.blogspot.com

 Inside the museum visitors are welcome to explore the former house and even use Mr. Toilet’s personal bathroom. His bathroom has large floor-to-ceiling glass that makes it seem very open but when the room is in use, the glass fogs up so that it cannot be seen through.  Throughout the building, works of art from paintings to clay models are displayed but only if they are related to Mr. Toilet’s passion. 

                Koreans are not as grossed out by what leaves our bodies as Americans and other countries are.  It wasn’t that long ago when they did have very old and dirty toilet systems where they had to deal with much worse on a daily basis.  That being said, this unique experience that visitors get is of course not taken seriously.  It is meant to be a fun and humorous environment for people to come and relax.  The majority of the visitors that show up are little children and they always seem to have a blast.  Anyone is welcome to the park and after all, it is free to visit.  Unfortunately they do not have a gift shop otherwise people could buy a souvenir t-shirt from the toilet store. 

Image taken from Youtube.com

Sources:

Sumitra. (January 1, 2013). South Korea’s Toilet Theme Park. OddityCentral.com. Retrieved from http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/south-koreas-toilet-theme-park.html

Hornyak, Tim. (November 11, 2012). Flushed with pride, Korea celebrates toilet theme park. Cnet.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnet.com/news/flushed-with-pride-korea-celebrates-toilet-theme-park/