The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun

Meguro Parasitolo­gical Museum attracts attention the world over

- The Yomiuri Shimbun

A research facility in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, that specialize­s in parasites has been drawing a lot of attention recently, following a series of major developmen­ts this summer that included a visit by Microso founder Bill Gates and an impromptu online donation drive.

e Meguro Parasitolo­gical Museum, which has su ered a decline in visitors due to the COVID-19 crisis, hopes this will be a good opportunit­y to increase interest in the world of parasites, which the general public is not familiar with.

e Parasite Museum was founded in 1953 by Dr. Satoru Kamegai, a physician who became the museum’s rst director. He invested his own money to establish the museum in order to conduct research on parasites and to educate and raise awareness of the prevention of parasitic diseases. e museum has a collection of approximat­ely 60,000 specimens acquired from Japan and abroad.

In keeping with the philosophy that Kamegai held — “no money should be paid for education and awareness” — the museum has no admission charges. Funding to operate the museum comes from the investment income of the foundation that manages the museum, pro ts from goods sold at the museum, and donations.

e number of museum visitors, which was more than 50,000 a year before the pandemic, decreased by half in scal 2020. As a result, museum revenue had been expected to decrease by approximat­ely ¥6 million in scal 2020, prompting the museum to set a goal of collecting donations totaling ¥5 million from scal 2020 onward.

Although the goal for scal 2020 was achieved, the next scal year fell short with only ¥4.5 million, so, they appealed for nancial support on their website.

is caught the attention of someone with a large number of followers on social media in the area of biology who put out a call for donations to the museum on Twitter on Aug. 21.

e appeal was shared more than 30,000 times, ballooning the donations for the current scal year from about ¥2 million to more than ¥5 million within the same month. As of Sept. 10, donations totaled ¥6 million.

Bill Gates is also interested in the museum, having worked to combat infectious diseases around the world through his charitable foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He visited Japan in August this year to receive the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, and stopped by the museum during the visit.

At the museum, he showed interest in the exhibit on parasites that can be transmitte­d from pigs to humans, and he also purchased a ballpoint pen and a strap set with Miyairi-gai freshwater clams that serve as a host for parasites.

A er the visit, Gates posted about his visit to the museum on his Twitter account, remarking on “What is believed to be the world’s longest tapeworm,” among other things.

e number of accesses to the museum’s website, which normally receives about 1,000 hits a day, jumped to about 7,000 two days later.

Museum Director Toshiaki Kuramochi, 66, said, “We will make full use of the recent attention to our museum to focus more than ever on research, education, and raising awareness, as well as services for the visitors.” (Sept. 18)

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