One Otter, One Tank, a Whole Country Watching: Mei Returns to View in Toba

There is now exactly one sea otter living in a Japanese aquarium, and since November 11 people can see her again.

Her name is Mei, she is 22 years old, and she lives at Toba Aquarium in Mie Prefecture. Until last week she shared her tank with Kira, an 18-year-old female who fell ill on November 4 and died the next day. The aquarium closed the otter tank to the public and switched off its 24-hour livestream while it watched how Mei coped with the loss of her companion. Once her condition was judged stable, both the display and the camera came back.

The aquarium’s request to visitors was simple: please watch over Mei warmly.

That small phrase carries a lot of weight in Japan, where sea otters were once a fixture of aquarium trips. Over the past few decades their number in captivity has steadily dwindled as older animals died and new ones became very hard to bring in. Kira was one of the best-loved residents in Toba, and fans travelled to say goodbye after her death.

Mei, at 22, is already elderly by otter standards. Nobody is pretending this is a long-term story. But for now, on a screen or through the glass, there is still a sea otter floating on her back in Japan — and plenty of people intend to make the most of it.