On April 18 this year, 300 million yen worth of bonds issued by Tsuruoka City in Yamagata Prefecture were sold out only 20 minutes after they were put for subscription. The municipal government floated the “Jellyfish Dream Bond” to make money to refurbish the city’s aging Kamo Aquarium. Why was that old and tiny aquarium so popular?

去る４月１８日、山形県鶴岡市が発行した市債３億円が、募集開始後わずか２０分で完売となった。その市債の名は「クラゲ・ドリーム債」。老朽化した同市立加茂水族館の改築事業が起債の目的だった。なぜ、地方の古ぼけた小さな水族館にこれほどの人気が集まったのだろうか。

Kamo was founded in 1930 by a group of local volunteers as the sole aquarium in the northern prefecture. But, due to the emergence of rival aquariums and growing diversification of people’s leisure, it fell into a slump, with the number of visitors dropping to 100,000 a year in the 90s from a record-high 210,000 previously. It became so run-down at one point that it couldn’t even pay bonus to the staff. Then in 1994, Curator Tatsuo Murakami introduced sea otters, thinking that they might work miracles in turning around his aquarium’s waning popularity. Sea otters were quite popular then across the country. But few people took pains to travel to the remote Sea of Japan city to have a look at sea otters, which by then were seen everywhere in the country. “There’s nothing much to recommend here. You can skip this aquarium. My impression is that sea otters are in here too,” commented an aquarium specialist who visited Kamo at the time.

加茂水族館は戦前の１９３０年、地元有志によって設立された山形県唯一の水族館だったが、他水族館の台頭やレジャーの多様化などで、年間で最高２１万人もいた入場者が　　９０年代からは１０万人と低迷が続いた。経営も行き詰まり、従業員にはボーナスも払えない状況に。館長の村上　龍男さんは１９９４年当時、その愛くるしい姿で全国で人気を博していたラッコを、起死回生の起爆剤として同館に導入したが、どこにでもいるラッコをわざわざ訪ねに来る人はいなかった。

Two years later in 1996, the number of visitors fell below 100,000. “So, we came to a dead end,” Murakami murmured to himself then. Just at that time, he noticed that there was a water tank where every visitor stopped during a tour of the aquarium. The tank exhibited moon jellyfish taken from coral reef. The jellyfish swimming slowly and softly in a dim tank were mysterious and beautiful. Looking at the scene, Murakami thought they have an effect to relax people. He felt jellyfish perhaps can save his aquarium and decided to take his last chance.

「どこと言って取るところが無い、なくてもいい水族館だ。こんな所にもラッコがいた。」これは当時、加茂水族館を訪れた水族館に詳しい専門家プロの評価だった。その翌々年に入場者数はついに１０万人を切り、「経営もこれまでか」と村上館長も思わず口に漏らしていた。そんな中、館内を通り過ぎていく客が必ず足を止める水槽があった。それはサンゴから偶然発生したミズクラゲ。暗い水槽の中、ぼんやりとクラゲがゆらゆらと水中を漂う姿が神秘的で、美しかった。その様子を見ていた館長は、クラゲには人を癒す効果がある、クラゲならこの水族館を救うことができるかもしれないと考え、最後の賭けに打って出た。    

 Jellyfish generally live for only three to four months. The staff at the aquarium had to breed them by themselves in order to display them constantly. But they found it far from easy to control the temperature of water in the jellyfish tank. In those days, there were few laboratories in the world that had established the know-how needed to breed jellyfish. Kamo set up “Tsuruoka Jellyfish Laboratory” in a bid to develop methods to breed various species of jellyfish. Three years later in 2000, the aquarium started exhibiting 12 species of jellyfish, the biggest number in Japan.

クラゲの寿命は平均３～４カ月と短く、安定した展示を行うには自分たちで育てるしかなかった。だがクラゲの水温管理は難しく、当時、クラゲの繁殖技術を確立した研究機関は世界中でもほとんどなかった。そこで加茂水族館では「鶴岡市くらげ研究所」という専門機関を設置し、クラゲの種類ごとの繁殖方法を研究。そして３年後の２０００年、ついにクラゲ展示室が開設され、日本一となる１２種類の展示が始まった。

 This sent the number of visitors rising again. Kamo has earned the Guinness World Record for the greatest number of jellyfish species. Incidentally Dr. Osamu Shimomura who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2008 helped the aquarium spring into fame. The award was for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein (GFP), which was first observed in Aequorea Victoria, a species of jellyfish. Kamo was the only aquarium in Japan that bred Aequorea victoria at that time. Backed by this tailwind, the number of visitors renewed the past record in 2010. Today, it still keeps increasing.

それからの入場者数は右肩上がり。同館のクラゲ展示種類の数の多さがギネスブックにも載るようになった。その後、加茂水族館を一躍有名にしたのは０８年の下村脩博士のノーベル化学賞受賞。受賞理由となった緑色蛍光たんぱく質がオワンクラゲ由来であることから、これを飼育している同水族館が注目されたのである。これを追い風に１０年には入館者数２１万人と過去最高を抜き、現在も伸び続けている。

Sir Francis Bacon said, “It is in life as it is in ways. The shortest way is commonly the foulest.” He might have meant that getting a chance to success is important but there is no need to hurry. Indeed, Kamo Aquarium has revived after its long history of success, failure and hardship. The aquarium, refurbished with the Jellyfish Dream Bond, will reopen for business in 2014. A recent research finding says that looking at jellyfish can reduce people’s mental stress. If you have a chance, why don’t you have a look at the world of jellyfish?

「人生は道路のようなものだ。一番の近道は、たいてい一番悪い道」というフランシスコ・ベーコンの言葉がある。きっかけを掴んでで、チャンスへ持って行くことは重要だが、結果を急ぎ過ぎてはならないということだろう。成功と挫折、そして多くの辛苦。これらすべてが合わさってこその加茂水族館復活なのではないだろうか。クラゲ・ドリーム債によってリニューアルされる新しい水族館は１４年オープン予定だ。最近ではクラゲを見るとストレスが軽減されるという研究結果もがでている。皆さんも機会があれば、神秘的、幻想的、癒し効果のあるクラゲの世界を覗いてみてはいかがだろう。

(Written By: Yuxi Luo)