Word: marimo
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Just before World War II a marimo fad started, and thousands of the gamboling plants were snatched from Lake Akan. But the war intervened to save them from extinction, and in 1947 the Education Ministry's Committee for the Protection of Cultural Objects dug up an old law that proclaimed the marimos "a national treasure." It threatened fine or imprisonment for anyone who molested them...
...proclamation backfired. It advertised the marimos, and a second fad swept through Japan. Stealthy marimo-kapparai (marimo snatchers) haunted Lake Akan, diving into the water at night to kidnap the helpless creatures. Marimo smugglers brought them to Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, and Japanese tourists bought them furtively, paying up to $50. Biologists and nature lovers wrung their hands in anguish, but nothing effective was done. The little pets from Lake Akan were snatched almost to extinction...
...Questions Asked. Public sentiment proved more powerful than restrictive laws. Newspapers published pro-marimo editorials, and three months ago the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Objects went into action. Appealing by newspaper, radio and television, it begged marimo owners to liberate their pets. Marimos left at police stations, the committee promised, would be cared for tenderly and no questions asked...
...Japanese public responded. Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama set the example by returning his treasured marimo. Transportation Minister Takeo Miki visited Lake Akan in person and gave two marimos their freedom. A hotel owner in Tokyo apprehended a marimo snatcher with 150 captives. Out of hidden aquariums came hundreds more...
...Marimos flocking back to their home in Lake Akan are cared for and carried without cost by Japan Air Lines, the Japanese National Railways and the Mitsui Steamship Co. One problem still remains. Some marimo lovers fear that newly freed marimos will contaminate Lake Akan with ills picked up in captivity. They urge that all returning captives get medical examinations. If sick, they should be restored to health before being liberated...