Photo/Illutration Visitors are absorbed in watching schools of fish in a dimly lit tank measuring 14 meters wide and 7.5 meters deep at the Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium in Sendai on Sept. 10. (Ryuichiro Fukuoka)

SENDAI--A special night-time excursion for solo visitors at an aquarium here quietly became one of the facility’s popular events after the idea was nearly shot down.

Children of elementary school age and younger are not permitted, and the visitors must remain silent--and alone--on the evening visits to the Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium in northern Japan.

Held irregularly, the “Ohitorisama Naito Suizokukan” (Night at the aquarium for a party of one) event runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. when the facility is normally closed.

Although the event is designed for single people, couples and groups can attend, but they will be asked to separate, view the marine creatures alone and refrain from talking.

Junta Wada, 51, currently the director of the city-run Joetsu Aquarium in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, who served as deputy director of the Sendai aquarium when it opened in 2015, came up with the idea for the event.

He had noticed that visitors to the Sendai facility and those at the Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, where he once worked, were different.

The Yokohama facility is more of a sightseeing destination for families with children and couples, he said.

But the Sendai aquarium is located near a residential area and a shopping mall, so its customers include many solo visitors dropping by after work or shopping, he said.

Some annual pass holders visit the Sendai aquarium alone every day and observe the fish even more closely than the staff members.

Wada also saw a social media post from someone who said the feeling of loneliness among solo visitors at the aquarium intensifies when couples and visitor groups are around.

Wada made elaborate preparations to pitch the idea of catering to solo customers, but the initial reaction was cool.

Some of his colleagues said aquariums were meant to entertain families and couples, not individuals, and the project was almost rejected.

But when the aquarium conducted a survey through social media, nearly 90 percent of the respondents were in favor of the plan.

About 100 people joined the aquarium’s test-run event in 2018. The number of participants has since increased each time, and around 200 people attended in April this year.

It is now a centerpiece event of the aquarium.

“The number of people who love aquariums and creatures but are hesitant to go there alone was larger than we had expected,” said Narumi Obata, 30, a public relations representative at the facility.

Aquarium officials also said they can host the events at no extra cost or preparation.

The 11th and latest installment was held on Sept. 10.

The venue was silent, and the tanks were dimly lit with no natural light. Several dozen visitors randomly walked around the place, absorbed in observing such creatures as penguins, sleeping fish and South American sea lions.

Akira Nakamura, 33, a company employee from Sendai, has frequented the aquarium at least 30 times. But despite his love for viewing marine life, he said he felt uncomfortable when the facility was filled with couples and group visitors.

“It was quiet, and I could take my time to watch,” he said about the Sept. 10 event. “I saw nocturnal catfish moving about and penguins looking at the full moon in the sky. It was also great to see the aquarium at night.”

The date for the next event will be posted on the aquarium’s official website (www.uminomori.jp/umino/index.html) and social media sites in Japanese only.

Admission at the Sept. 10 event was 2,100 yen ($14.50) for adults, 1,500 yen for people aged 65 or older, and 1,400 yen for junior and senior high school students. Taxes are included.

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