The Shinkai 2000 (しんかい) was a crewed research submersible that could dive up to a depth of 2,000 meters.

The Shinkai 2000 was owned and run by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and it was launched from the support vessel Natsushima.

Two pilots and one researcher operated within a 30 mm thick High-strength low-alloy steel pressure hull with an internal diameter of 2.2 meters.

[1] [2] The deep diving submersible Shinkai 2000 is eponymous for the genus Shinkai- polychaete worms of the family Chrysopetalidae.

Bivalves hosting those parasitic polychaetes were collected during Dives 315 and 381 in the Hatsushima cold-seep site in Sagami Bay.