Meguro Parasitological Museum

The Meguro Parasitological Museum (Japanese: 目黒寄生虫館, Hepburn: Meguro kiseichūkan) is a small science museum in the Meguro Ward in central Tokyo, Japan. The museum is devoted to parasites and the science of parasitology, and was founded in 1953 by Dr. Satoru Kamegai.[2]

Meguro Parasitological Museum
目黒寄生虫館
Glass jars with parasite specimens suspended in fluid
Parasite specimens on display at the museum
Established1953 (1953)
LocationMeguro, Tokyo
Coordinates35°37′54″N 139°42′24″E
TypeScience museum
Collection size60,000 specimens, 300 on exhibit
Visitors57300[1]
FounderDr. Satoru Kamegai
DirectorDr. Toshiaki Kuramochi
Public transit accessMeguro Station
Websitewww.kiseichu.org/e-top

History

The museum rebuilt to its present location in 1993. Dr. Kamegai died in 2002 and Professor Akihiko Uchida took over operations of the museum adding the gift shop to help fund operations.[3]

Museum

The two-story exhibition space provides an educational overview of the diversity of parasites in the natural world and their life cycles. The second floor exhibition space has an emphasis on parasites in humans and their effects (including the nematode, the trematode, and the tapeworm). On display are 300 preserved specimens, including an 8.8 metres (29 ft)-long Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense tapeworm.[4] The research library contains 60,000 parasite specimens, as well as 50,000 papers and 5,000 books on parasitology.[5]

The museum has a gift counter on the second floor, where visitors can purchase a museum guidebook, postcards, T-shirts, or mobile-phone straps with actual parasites embedded in acrylic (either Nybelinia surmenicola or Oncomelania nosophora).[6] The museum is free to visitors and relies on donations because it is private and does not receive government funds.[7]

References
  1. 公益財団法人 目 黒 寄 生 虫 館 (2017). "平 成 ２９ 年 度 事 業 報 告 書" (PDF). kiseichu.org/disclosure (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  2. Uranaka, Taiga (11 March 2001). "Strange world of parasites on display". The Japan Times. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  3. Belson, Ken (1 September 2002). "For Youth in Japan, Love Is a Many Segmented Thing". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  4. Phro, Preston (1 March 2014). "From protozoa to tapeworms: Visiting the Meguro Parasitological Museum". SoraNews24. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  5. "Meguro Parasitological Museum". japanvisitor.com. 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  6. Irving, India (26 September 2018). "Tokyo's Museum of Parasites Will Make Your Skin Crawl". Culture Trip. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  7. Tomo (5 October 2015). "The only one in the world! Meguro Parasitological Museum is slowly taking over..." Japanize. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
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