Visitors to Takeshima Aquarium in Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture, have increased sharply thanks to a number of innovative ideas and strategies implemented by its staff.
After years of dwindling visitor numbers and facing the threat of closure, the aquarium has pulled off a near-miraculous rebound in recent years, attracting more than 300,000 visitors for the first time in fiscal 2015.
Yuko Arashima, executive director of the Gamagori Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the situation was completely different seven or eight years ago, when she was the chief of the city's tourism department in charge of the aquarium.