The Marine Open Innovation Initiative, centering on marine biotechnology, was launched in 2019 in Shizuoka prefecture. This is an ambitious project to establish a base for utilizing marine DNA resources and creating new industries. It is also developing into a Blue Tech Cluster, a concept from the United States that is now being promoted worldwide. This concept, targeting almost all marine industries and based on scientific knowledge, aims at the sustainable development of technologies and industrialization of cities and regions and is in alignment with the SDGs.

Japanese stock chum salmon leave their natal river for the North Pacific Ocean via the Sea of Okhotsk and arrive at the Bering Sea. For several years afterwards, they spend their summers in the Bering Sea and winters in the Gulf of Alaska, homing to their natal river in the year they spawn. The hypothalamus, which is the center of instinctive behavior and endocrine function, is important for control of homing migration at the molecular level, the basis for this behavior. The functions of nervous and endocrine systems are however impaired when the homing is hindered by the strengthened Kuroshio under global warming.

Snorkeling in water areas such as lakes, rivers, or the ocean is an activity in which floating or swimming on the water’s surface provides an opportunity to come in contact with nature at the water’s edge. It is reported that the number of snorkeling fans has increased in recent years, and while instructors are now being trained the occurrence of accidents during snorkeling are on the increase. In order to enjoy snorkeling safely, improvements are called for in learning about the unique natural characteristics of nearby land areas, the acquiring of skills related to equipment, and observance of laws and ordinances as well as good manners regarding water area use.