The classic media trope of “Weird Japan” usually is just a lazy way of trying to get some eyeballs on your story. No, the streets of Tokyo aren’t flanked by used-underwear machines every three steps while TV shows are less “Slippery Stairs” and more “let’s learn about regional delicacies.”
But sometimes a genuinely oddball thing pops up in Japan, and genuinely gets deserving stares from folks both international and domestic. So is the case with the Unko Museum. This pop-up place in Yokohama celebrates poop, allowing kids to frolic in a ball pit where the balls look like human excrement and learn about the waste we make. As you’d expect, it has attracted a lot of attention from all over, and it actually is at least kinda deserved as the concept is pretty out there (which the people behind it clearly knew, transforming the usual Instagram-bait into something a little more oddball).
And now the Unko Museum has a theme song! Courtesy of rising dance-pop duo Frasco and WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA’s primary producer Kenmochi Hidefumi. Listen to “U.N.K.O.” below.
This song really goes the extra step required for something that serves as promotional material for a poop pop-up. The driving sound here is Hidefumi’s fizzy take on future bass, which you might recognize as being a go-to style for WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA as well. Alongside a beat that pogos along, distorted vocal samples flare to give this a slightly uneasy feeling. Frasco’s role in this is a little more undefined, though at least half of that project provides the main vocals throughout. Those happen to be more on brand for the Unko Museum, mostly focusing on the vital nature of our natural body functions. But large chunks of “U.N.K.O.” are just straight-up rave outs.
Hidefumi’s production work might be familiar, but Frasco deserves some love too. The project has been around since 2015, crafting easy-breezy dance-pop alongside wobblier fare. I’m not sure a song for the poop museum constitutes a breakout for them, but it does signal continued upwards movement, and this definitely won’t be the last you hear from them.