This time Joseph and I are in Kodaira City, Tokyo
for an adventure that will take us to the depths of the city
The museum of sewage, or Fureai Gesuido Kan
Previously, Joseph and I visited the ToTo Toilet museum in Shinjuku
to see the technology that goes into the front end
of Tokyo's sewage
Comfort, style and amazing tech features are
all part of the amazing Japanese toilet experience.
Now, it's time to see the back end of that.
and we've come here for the rear view of it.
Get ready to dive in deep
Th museum is open from 9 am to 5pm and it's free.
and amazingly clean
well, for a sewage museum.
Most of it is underground
I changed into something more comfortable
and met Joseph 3 floors down
-So this is the museum of... -sewage
Sewage?
Oh my god, yuck
You always bring me to the greatest places
I mean, this is why you're wearing this?
Of course, I knew I was coming to the
Tokyo Museum of Sewage
But don't worry, you don't have to dress up like me,
or wear a helmet and such
you can come as you are, which is a great thing
about this experience
You know last time I seem to remember
you took me to a toilet museum, right?
After you flush, you don't really think where it goes
so this is the logical next step
The next step
This is the evolution in the toilet experience
Wow, I don't know how I got involved in this.
But you're going to have alot of fun.
Trust me buddy, come on!
There's a lot to see
A lot to see, but this guy probably wants a little more privacy
On this floor, there are a lot of technical details,
like flow patterns
Pipe repair
and history
Life was real harder without sewers in Tokyo
There was even a human fesis removal, or poop boat
to transfer it out for fertilizer, for somewhere else
If you've never been to a sewage museum before,
you probably want to know about the concept
and Izumi san is here to fill us in.
You can have a lot of fun here
It's part of fun what goes on down there.
Izumi san showed us a lot of data
like high points in the flow When people use the water the most,
in the morning and evenings
After this, we were ready to enter the main sewage pipe
The door is open to visitors in museum hours
It's like being in a submarine
Open, to a whole new world
and it stinks
This is the main sewage pipe for Kodaira City
Low flowing right now
There are a few rules in here.
I think jumping the fence won't be a problem.
The main sewage pipes were warmer than the other rooms
abuot 20 degrees celcius
With the door open, a lot of wind enters from outside
The moisture inside makes your breath steam out
This bridge over the pipe is one of a kind in Japan
and maybe the whole world
It felt like being in a cave at a waterfall.
Just not the kind of water you want to go swimming in
I'm sort of shocked that a place like this even exists
It's pretty insane that
that they had an idea 20years ago to put a viewing platform
in middle of a sewer
Yeah, and we're inside a pipe which is massive
Its crazy. It's like 4.5m wide,
and this is carrying about water from 50,000 people,
and I must say,
I thought it was going to be smelly but..
I mean it's really smelly
It's not as bad as I thought it would be.
Maybe it's because it's mixed with a lot of rain water,
They say you get used to your own scent
but this is a scent of 50,000 people.
I'm not sure I can get used to this.
but one thing that is reassuring is that
they have different types of sensors to detect different gases
so that we won't pass out due to poisoning or something
The sound
It sounds like it's coming from over there and
there must be a rapid or something
I think there is a big pipe emptying into this pipe and
It's kind of like a waterfall
that's what we can hear up here, but down here,
I mean it's really calm
you can happily float on a rubber dingy.
10 kms down here
Maybe that's the next attraction they can add to this
theme park
A boat ride
This is one of the processing plant
But I do really think it's great they have a place like this.
because it allows not just kids, but people like us
have a chance to see that there is life after a flush
yeah exactly
Normally you flush and it's gone but
no, there is a subtrainion world, and places like this
just everywhere. It's incredible.
The color of the water is not flattering, is it?
It hasn't been processed at all,
it's litterly as it comes out of the toilet, as off the street
as the bathtubs..
It's all mixed so we're not seeing big pieces of toilet paper,
or anything else you might expect because
it's already kind of broken down
through the rapids back there and stuff
so this is an authentic experience
Tokyo was hit with a sudden rain storm a few years ago
a lot of rain in a brief period of time
The result was felt in a few minutes in the main sewage pipe
Water flowing very fast, and level raising beyond the norm
It was a surreal scene
that could've been dangerous with the opening in the pipe
The camera inside the pipe recorded water near capacity.
but lowered a couple of hours after the storm moved away
from the area
The museum sewage also has a classroom
where you can see it all at a microscopic level
This is raw sewage from the pipe
and what we're looking at
The sewage is teaming with life
the kind that you don't want to get to know.
It's all very disgusting
but absolutely fascinating
I simply could not look away
A sewage safari
and we had an amazing pair of binoculars.
There is a chart for the micro orgnisms.
It reminded me of monsters,
so they created a Anime version of them, of course
to make it easier to sleep at night
It was an amazing day
one that Joseph and I will never forget
Boy that was quite an experience, wasn't it?
It was! It was more exciting than I thought it would be
Seeing with all that water level and data, I loved that.
Yeah, I liked the minute details
So every time we flush now,
we have a greater appreciation for.
Absolutely. It's like there is a museum
that caters for whatever your interest is
Tokyo is crazy
and flushing the toilet for me, is never going to be the same again
Speaking of which, I got to use the restroom
I know a really good one
If you're in Tokyo,
you pass through the unforgettable museum of sewage
in Kodaira City
It stinks