On an overcast spring morning, a crisp sea breeze batters the curved silver and orange hull of the Tara, a French scientific research sailboat, which lilts on the restless waters of Hinode Pier in Tokyo, intermittently letting out a creaking sigh.
On board, executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, Romain Troublé, dubbed “captain” by the crew, unfurls a large chart and readies a stack of educational aids that outline the ship’s purpose for the next three years. A French flag flickers and dances at the stern.
“We’re here for two reasons: one is to highlight the results of the survey we did on microplastics along the coast of Japan, and also for the beginning of a new expedition called Tara Coral,” he says to a small group of visitors onboard.
The next mission, Troublé explains, is to examine the factors underpinning the health of coral in what’s known as the Coral Triangle — a region roughly spanning the waters off Indonesia’s Sumatra to the west, the Philippines to the north and Papua New Guinea to the east. The triangle encompasses 76% of all known coral species, and is rich in marine biodiversity. As part of the project, scientists will collect samples and endeavor to solve a mystery — why coral in this region appears to show greater resilience to the impacts of climate change — in a bid to shape coral conservation strategies around the world.
On board, the Tara is buzzing with industrious energy. It was eight years ago when the vessel last arrived in Japan, and the crew is excited to be in Tokyo. Emblazoned around the entry into the cockpit are freshly painted katakana and hiragana letters spelling: “Tara — Welcome.”
The 37-year-old sailboat was acquired in 2003 by Agnès Troublé, founder of the fashion brand Agnès b. Along with her son Étienne Bourgois, the current president of the foundation, she established Tara, a 36-meter-long “ floating laboratory” that sleeps up to 16 people. In addition to its scientific research, the vessel hosts a steady stream of artists, both in an effort to communicate to a broader audience and as an enriching mutual learning experience for the scientists and artists involved.
In Japan, too, exhibitions and art competitions are a key part of this initiative, with creative initiatives developing through a partnership with Katsuhiko Hibino, a director of Tara Ocean Japan and president of the Tokyo University of the Arts.
“Scientific data alone may sometimes fail to move people,” says Hibino, who has known the Troublé family for around 40 years. “A single painting or a single sculpture can deeply stir a person’s heart.”
While the use of art to boost awareness of scientific research is unique, Romain Troublé, who is Agnès’ nephew, views the relationship as natural, and something that is already deeply rooted in the annals of both pursuits.
“In the past, artists and scientists were the same people — look at (Charles) Darwin. He became a scientist, but at the beginning, he was a drawer; he was an artist,” he says.
“Questioning life, questioning the facts, is something that is common to artists and scientists.”
With the Tara’s visitors trailing behind, Troublé makes his way down a steep set of stairs, revealing a bright living space and sunken stainless steel kitchen, a honey-colored wooden table with generous booth seating, where meals are eaten (anyone who uses their phones during mealtimes is automatically on dishes duty, Troublé explains, sparking knowing laughter).
The crew resides on board comfortably, albeit in tight quarters. Past the living space, there are bunks for sleeping, research equipment and food supplies. An overflowing bookshelf is crammed with French-language titles from John Le Carre, Richard Powers, Joseph Kessel and Amelie Nothomb. Pieces of art, design and photography are peppered throughout the space. There is also a hand-drawn poster for Monday’s movie night that lists a lineup of Studio Ghibli films.
While France is the operation’s headquarters, Tara carries out research and projects from Japan in collaboration with the Japanese Association for Marine Biology (JAMBIO), a nationwide marine biology station network. Tara also ties up with local municipalities and a network of artists and scientists, led by general manager Yumiko Patouillet.
During Tara’s Tokyo visit, Patouillet is seen perched at a table tapping away intently on a laptop, and occasionally darting over to confer a detail to the crew. Even getting the ship to dock in Tokyo was something of a miracle, she explains later, describing the bureaucratic legwork that happened in the background.
Patouillet had been eager for Tara’s return — it’s an important emblem to help people understand the uniqueness of the project and its mission, and to boost the organization’s profile in Japan, she explains.
“Tara is iconic and beautiful; its arrival is an occasion for people to understand what is happening in the ocean — especially for all who have helped us during the last eight years, and people involved in our project. … I wanted to give them an opportunity to finally see Tara in Japan,” she says.
In Japan, in collaboration with JAMBIO, Tara released an expansive, in-depth study on microplastics for its first local project, although a Tara Pacific project between 2016 and 2018 studying Pacific Ocean coral reefs included stop offs in Japan. The project is the largest-ever microplastics research carried out across the Japanese coast, according to Patouillet, and also encompassed sediment testing, an arduous and labor-intensive process.
The research resulted in a 2025 paper that mapped out socioeconomic factors for microplastic concentration in areas around the country – for example, fishing and population.
The scientists, who found “higher concentrations of microplastics in sediments than in surface water,” said the findings indicate that “now more than ever, there exists an urgent need for legislation to improve waste management for both land and maritime activities to stop plastic entering the ocean.”
Another equally ambitious Blue Carbon project is now underway and is being overseen by scientific leader Shigeki Wada, a professor at Hiroshima University. The project will run for at least four years and involves in-depth research into seaweed and seagrasses across the country, involving around 20 scientists and sampling around Japan. It will also include a number of outreach activities and artistic documentation. Among the project’s goals are to improve our understanding of the role algae can play in carbon dioxide capture.
Wada — who works alongside Sylvain Agostini, a scientist and a Tara Ocean Japan director — has found that Tara’s multidisciplinary approach has made him consider the audience of his research and the way this process is carried out.
“If I publish a scientific paper, a general audience will not read this, and society will not change. I think the activities of Tara remove the gap between the science and the general audience,” he says.
“In Japan, artists, scientists, outreach and policymaking are completely divided … so I hope that such an idea is spread in Japanese society,” Wada says.
Agostini, who has worked and lived in Japan for a number of years and first involved Wada in the project, describes outreach as an important mechanism to raise awareness of the impact faced by coastal communities, and he notes that connecting the impact to the community is a part of the necessary research.
“Where I was living in Shimoda (in Shizuoka Prefecture), there was a thriving abalone fisheries, and in a few years it went … to zero,” he says, noting that traditional ama-diving practices (fishing in which women use free-diving techniques) were also halted in Susaki, Kochi Prefecture, due to biodiversity loss.
“There is an economic impact and a cultural impact,” he says, in addition to the environmental impact, noting that while there were indicators of a tangible effect on communities, the loss has not been very well studied.
Agostini hopes to rectify that with a paper that he and colleagues are working on that will outline the cultural impact of environmental issues in greater detail.
Part of the motivation for emphasizing the human impact is as a rallying cry to involve broader society in understanding the issue, to educate young people and to lay the groundwork for deeper societal change.
Patouillet, who has also helped hands-on during Tara expeditions, in addition to running the Japan operation with just one full-time colleague, wants to help shift the common mindset in Japan away from a feeling of helplessness about the impacts of climate change.
“People have a tendency to think of global warming like a natural disaster — that we cannot do anything. Earthquakes, you prepare for, but you would not change your life because there might be one one day,” she says, noting that through her work with Tara, she felt there was an opportunity to reframe the issue.
“The more we connect, the more people are engaged and feel that it’s not only other people’s problem — these are our issues; we are not hopeless or helpless — we can do something,” she says.
On board Tara, sitting at the dinner table filled with baked goods and coffee and on course for Takamatsu — before calls in other ports including Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, and Singapore — captain Troublé is thinking about the future, and the sense of urgency that belies the project.
“I joined the adventure. … Why did I do that? Because I’m a scientist — a molecular biologist, I’m a sailor, and I have two kids, and I think we need to do something,” he says.
“It’s important not for my grandchildren, but for my children. In the past, people would say ‘It’s for my grandchildren.’ Now, it’s for our children. It’s for today. You see the disasters all around the world, the flooding, the heat waves. This is happening now. I think we should do something about it.”
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