Meguro Parasitological Museum
I really, really,
REALLY want to go here, let me just say that now!! When I finally get to
take my (heavily postponed...) trip to Japan that I've been planning for
the past two years, I'm absolutely going here.
The Meguro Parasitological Museum is a small, two-story building in
Meguro Ward, Tokyo, housing over 60,000 specimens of various parasites.
Running entirely off of donations and merchandise since admission is
free, the museum also offers educational activities and publishes
research papers. On the first floor, there are specimens and all sorts of movies and
information about various types of parasites. The second floor, however, is then dedicated to
specifically creatures that can parasitize humans!! This museum also
features in the music video for Jun Togawa's song Konchuugun!
One thing I'm very excited about is the fact that you can buy these
little phonestrap keychains with real parasites inside!! This one is
Anisakis simplex, a nematode, or roundworm. You'll see a
really gross image if you Google it so be careful. It can infect humans
with anisakiasis when they eat raw fish containing its larvae. You can
also get keychains containing either Nybelinia surmenicola, a tapeworm
that lives in squid and fish, or Oncomelania hupensis, a small
snail that can carry blood flukes and lung flukes.
The museum also has on display an 8.8 meter long tapeworm - nearly 30
feet long!! - removed from a patient. Yuck!! They provide a piece of
rope for you to handle in order to imagine the length of the real thing!
The truth is I will probably be super grossed out and feel sick when I
visit here haha. But I still really want to go!! I think parasites are
really cool - that's why I have Ascaris roundworms on my header on this
site! You can see the museum's website
right here - they have an
English homepage too!