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My specialty is museology. As the Museum Act states, museums include not only historical museums, but also art galleries, zoos, aquariums, etc. I am researching the background and history of the establishment of museums and their significance as social education facilities.

Around 2000, local governments across Japan began to face the need to close or consolidate public museums due to deteriorating finances and other factors. In this critical situation, museums were forced to face up to their own raison d'être. What is the purpose of their existence and activities? A debate erupted about the "mission" of museums, something that had not been sufficiently considered until then.

At the time, I was studying archaeology at university and dreamed of working in a museum as a curator, collecting and storing materials, planning exhibitions, and conducting research, but I began to think that I wanted to study Japanese museums, which have entered a new phase. Museums contribute to the development of local communities by spreading awareness of the value of cultural resources through their discovery, preservation, and utilization. Furthermore, their activities should not only produce academic results, but also provide a place of anchorage for the people who live there and bring spiritual enrichment. I believe that the main goal of my research is to delve into the role of museums and create a system to ensure their continued operation.

I am currently researching the role of museums in the charitable work undertaken by local entrepreneurs during the Taisho period. Looking at the history of museums in Japan, many were built by entrepreneurs. Shibusawa Eiichi is in the spotlight in the 2021 NHK Taiga drama, but his grandson Shibusawa Keizo is also famous for opening a private museum and working hard to develop folklore studies alongside his work in the business world. Museums built by entrepreneurs also exist in rural areas, and I am examining the motivations and circumstances behind their museum construction in the context of their contribution to the local community.

It is generally understood that museums in Japan were introduced from the West after the Meiji era as part of a government-led modernization policy. However, I hypothesize that entrepreneurs with strong hometown pride played a role in the spread of museums in local areas. To prove this, I have been visiting libraries and archives around the country to search for primary sources and to collect various information through interviews with local people and related parties.

Shiga Prefectural Archives (call number: Ake-E-238-2)

Specifically, we are currently investigating Shimogo Denpei II, an entrepreneur from Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture. He succeeded his predecessor, and was involved in a wide range of businesses, including silk-reeling and finance, and served as Nagahama town mayor and member of the House of Peers. At the same time, he was also devoted to charitable work in his hometown of Nagahama, and was active in social and cultural projects, including the construction of libraries and museums. When we looked through the documents, we found records of him inviting university professors to give lectures to the general public. The Shimogo Mutual Aid Association, a foundation that aims to contribute to society, still exists today, and his will is still being carried on. When we spoke to Shimogo's descendants, we learned that the entrepreneur at that time was highly motivated to contribute to the local community.

Many companies are now actively working on the SDGs. Perhaps the reason behind this is that, as the slogan SDGs has become an international trend, companies have no choice but to work on it from the perspective of improving their corporate image. This also gives an idea of the so-called corporate strategy of the organization. On the other hand, philanthropists at the time, including Shimogo Denpei, hoped for a better future for the region and carried out social contribution activities with strong personal will. I can clearly understand their feelings that have emerged from repeated research.

When we think of museums, we tend to be interested in the collections on display, but I am also interested in the strong feelings of the people involved, such as the curators, staff, and volunteers. When I interview people, I am sometimes surprised by the passion for the museum that overflows from their stories. Where on earth does that enthusiasm come from? Meeting and interacting with them is one of the best parts of my research activities.

There are many challenges in the environment surrounding curators. With the number of staff limited due to financial reasons, the workload per person is high, and they are often extremely busy. Despite such circumstances, I have seen many times that they enjoy working on various tasks. For example, I think that accepting volunteers is one of the tasks that places a heavy burden on curators. Coordinating them is not easy because of the will of each volunteer and the difficulty of human relationships. Nevertheless, what is important from the perspective of the role as a social education facility is that local people can gain learning opportunities and have a fulfilling daily life through volunteer activities. Curators help people who wish to experience culture to realize their own goals.

From a different perspective, one could say that volunteer activities are one of the reasons for the museum's existence. The museum is the stage for activities to discover and pass on the cultural resources of the region. In this way, local residents and curators create the value of the museum.

With the remarkable progress of digital technology, the way to appreciate cultural assets and artworks is not limited to seeing them in real life at museums, but it is now possible to see them clearly and in detail on a computer screen. In the future, it will be possible to appreciate them in a more realistic way, such as with AR and VR. Of course, it is possible to say that there is value in appreciating the real thing, but there is no doubt that the environment surrounding museums as a place for appreciation will change significantly. In such a situation, the significance of museums as spaces where people gather and communication is born will be questioned in the future. Museums are not just places to appreciate exhibits, but also places where visitors can enjoy conversations with each other and receive explanations directly from curators and volunteers. We can also consider the significance of museums by focusing on such interactions between people.

We hope that students will continue to have intellectual curiosity even after graduating from university. Only a small proportion of university students choose to become researchers. Of course, nurturing this small proportion is important, but we want the majority of students who will not work in culture as a career to learn ways to satisfy their intellectual desires in their daily lives and in their local communities. When looking at volunteers working at the museum, many of them do not just listen to instructions from curators, but also come up with and take action on their own projects. Lifelong learning continues even after graduating from Aoyama Gakuin University. Acquire the foundations of intellectual activity at university so that you can live a long and fulfilling life. (Published November 2021)