UNKO goes global! UNKO MUSEUM, the real entertainment from | KAYAC

〜Opens January 17, 2024 at 360 Bourke St., in the heart of Melbourne〜

KAYAC Inc. (Headquarters: Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture; MD & CEO: Daisuke Yanasawa; hereinafter "KAYAC") and T Museum Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya Ward, Tokyo; CEO: Masaru Kobayashi; hereinafter "Tanoshii Museum") announce commencement of the "UNKO MUSEUM", jointly planned and produced by the two companies from January 17, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia. With this opportunity, UNKO, which has created a fever in Japan, will continue to expand globally as an IP with tremendous potential common to all and the desire to make the world more interesting.

UNKO MUSEUM MELBOURNE OFFICIAL SITE: https://feverup.com/m/142677

This project was made possible through a partnership between Tanoshii Museum and Fever (an operator of an entertainment experience discovery and reservation platform in over 180 cities around the world) for the overseas expansion of real entertainment from Japan. "UNKO MUSEUM" has been chosen as the first collaboration that will jointly be held by Fever, Tanoshii Museum and KAYAC as Fever exclusive content.

■UNKO MUSEUM MELBOURNE Overview

The contents will include an UNKO (poop) volcano, which is popular at the "UNKO MUSEUM” in Japan, where small poop pop out from a giant poop object, a Poostagenic area with cute and sparkling poop lined up and a Poointeractive area where visitors can enjoy playing poop games.

※ This photo is from "UNKO MUSEUM TOKYO”

Venue

The Melbourne venue is situated on 360 Bourke St. said to be the heart of Melbourne, the intersection of Park Street and Swan Street. Located near Southern Cross Station, the departure and arrival point for the SkyBus shuttle bus service from Melbourne International Airport (Tullamarine Airport/Melbourne Airport (MEL) making it easily accessible and a central location for tourists, business folk and students on their way to and from school.

■ Thoughts on UNKO: Background of the "UNKO" project

Dating back 12 years, KAYAC has been paying attention to the potential of "Unko" (poop) since early on, starting a product service called "UNKO (Poop) Operation" in 2011. After having developed the "UNKO MUSEUM" together in Japan, Tanoshii Museum entered a partnership with Fever with the aim of strategically expanding real entertainment from Japan to overseas markets.

KAYAC will continue to plan and produce content for the overseas expansion of the UNKO MUSEUM. With this first foray into Australia, KAYAC aims to make UNKO even more accepted as a form of global entertainment and spread as a lingua franca.

■Comment from KAYAC CEO Daisuke Yanasawa

「We believe that UNKO is an intellectual property (IP) with tremendous potential. UNKO is a powerful content that belongs to no one, but to all of mankind. I wrote this in my blog in 2019, when the UNKO MUSEUM YOKOHAMA had just opened for the first time in Japan.

“We have a proposal for the future. A proposal that we make UNKO (poop) Japan's intellectual property (IP). No other country in the world is so tolerant of Poop. 〜 When you think of a country where various products, services, and organizations related to "UNKO" (poop), everyone in the world would think of NIPPON (Japan). If we continue to brand ourselves as such, UNKO, which originally belongs to no one, will become as if it were an intellectual property (IP) owned by Japan.”

And., I feel that the time has finally come. I am excited to see what kind of response we will receive overseas. With our expansion into Australia, I hope that UNKO and UNKO Entertainment will grow as a major business, something that Japan can be proud to export (excrete) to the world.」

■ History of KAYAC and "UNKO”

Jan 2011　 Birth of the "UNKO (Poop) Operation”
　　　　　　　（App for elementary school math problems involving UNKO (poop).）
April 2018. 　 Birth of "Poo” High
　　　　　　　（Online lecture service that teaches work and lifehack skills using the metaphor of "poop".）
July 2018 　「UNKO (Poop) Quotes Bot」
　　　　　　　 （Twitter (Now X) bot that teaches by comparing everything to poop.）
Oct 2018 　Launch of "UNKO (poop) Quotes Calendar
　　　　　　　（(A 31-day daily calendar that compares various quotes from around the world to poop.）
March 2019 　「Opened "UNKO MUSEUM YOKOHAMA" (Aso Building / limited time only）
Apr 2019 「”UNKO” music video released
　　　　　　　（Includes "U.N.K.O.," the theme song for "UNKO MUSEUM YOKOHAMA" and more）
July 2019. 　 ‘Poo’telligence book "Unko no Himitsu" (Takarajima Publishing) released.
　　　　　　　（A book full of knowledge about poop produced by the UNKO MUSEUM under the supervision of Koichiro Fujita, an expert in intestinal research.）
Aug 2019 　 Opened "UNKO MUSEUM TOKYO" (Diver City Tokyo Plaza)
May 2020. 　 Launched "UNKO MUSEUM “Online
　　　　　　　（Web service that allows users to enjoy the popular contents of the "UNKO MUSEUM TOKYO" from the comfort of their own home during the STAY HOME SAVE LIVES initiative.）
May 2020 　 ”Snap Camera" AR effect for "UNKO MUSEUM”
　　　　　　　（(AR effect application for desktop PCs with a UNKO MUSEUM motif)
June 2022 　 Birth of "UNKO (poop) Animals”
※Measures related to the "UNKO MUSEUM" and "UNKO (poop) Animals" are jointly planned and produced with the Tanoshii Museum.

◼︎What is the UNKO MUSEUM?

"UNKO MUSEUM" is jointly planned and produced by KAYAC and Tanoshii Museum （※） as a form of real entertainment that offers an unprecedented experience that overturns the stereotypes of visitors through the theme of poop. The first "UNKO MUSEUM YOKOHAMA" attracted a great deal of attention, with the number of visitors topping 300,000 in the first six months after its opening and winning the "25th AMD Award '19".
With the permanent flagship experience store “UNKO MUSEUM TOKYO" in Tokyo, from 2019 - 2023 the experience has expanded to six other regions in Japan including Hiroshima, Shizuoka, Nasu, and Fukuoka and one overseas, through licensing efforts. The total number of visitors has exceeded 1.4 million (as of October 2023) and the museum has been enjoyed by customers not only from Japan but also from overseas.
（※）Tanoshii Museum was founded by the members who planned, created, and produced the UNKO MUSEUM; as of 2019, the company was known as Akatsuki Live Entertainment, Inc.