I planned to hold the event, “Will the animals disappear from the aquarium by Digital Transformation?”
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I will be hosting and speaking at an online event to discuss the display of creatures in aquariums. This event is a dream come true for me, as I will be in conversation with a very experienced staff member who worked at the aquarium until last year. Even the event targets young people, but anyone, including people in the aquarium industry, is welcome to attend.
The time will come when an industry insider will finally have to seriously answer the question, “What is the point of keeping creatures in aquariums?”
Why will I hold this event?
The main reason I decided to hold this event was because I was seriously considering the “digitalization of aquariums” in a graduate school class. For some time now, I have wondered whether technological advances will enable us to create content that produces the same educational impact as an aquarium shortly, without the need to display animals. As we worked on answering this question in class, my concern about the existence of the aquarium increased.
I had this question in 2018. At the time, I was seriously concerned about the community management of my volunteer team of the aquarium, and I was looking for “the necessary elements for the organization to continue its work.” After all, it was the realization of “a society where people can feel the connection with nature and animals forever.” For the organization to survive, the survival of the Tokyo Sea Life Park is necessary. For this to happen, the aquarium industry needs to stay, thus we need a society in which people recognize the significance of the aquarium’s existence. In other words, aquariums need to serve as a gateway to feel the connection with nature and animals.
However, this logic is biased and based on the assumption of the “existence of aquariums as the product.” If an alternative to aquariums can provide a gateway to feeling a connection with nature and animals, then there is no need to steal live animals from nature to display them in an aquarium.
The Birth of the Virtual Aquarium
With that in mind, I was surprised to find that content with that potential had opened in 2017. And the fact that it appeared in the heart of the world, Times Square in New York City, gave me a sense of its potential.
That year, on my 30th birthday, my experience of that content, which coincide with a visit to the New York Aquarium, made me determined to take that question seriously in my life.
Unfortunately, that content “National Geographic Encounter” closed its doors this past August. Even the content was still far from being an alternative to aquariums. Nevertheless, I felt confident that the challenge of trying to serve as a gateway to nature and animals without displaying actual creatures would threaten the existing aquarium industry in the future.
2020, in Japan
Two years later, now I have been fortunate enough to work for students who want to work at a zoo or aquarium on a career design project presented by an NGO. In this project, which is based on the firm belief that “we will not allow students to give up on their dreams,” I have to seriously ask the students about any difficult questions in this industry. Of course, those questions come back to me also.
In two years, the impact of technological progress in the fourth industrial revolution has become more apparent. And the corona disaster has led to many aquariums around the world struggling to recoup the costs they are putting into recreating their natural environments. Despite this situation, many Japanese aquariums have newly opened or renewed their exhibits in 2020.
In the years ahead, the aquarium industry will be put to the test. Generations Y and Z in the aquarium industry, including myself, will need to take the significance of their existence even more seriously than previous generations. I want to create my talk event that will give us an idea of what will be required for future aquariums and what they can offer to people.
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