| ■Tokyo National Research
Institute for Cultural Properties |
■Center for Conservation
Science |
| ■Department of Art Research,
Archives and Information Systems |
■Japan Center for
International Cooperation in Conservation |
| ■Department of Intangible
Cultural Heritage |
|
Interview with the Australian Commonwealth Government
Interview with the New South Wales State Government
The Japan Consortium for International Cooperation of Cultural Heritage plans this year to study international cooperative structures in developed countries as part of its information collection activities. One of the study activities was a survey in Australia that we held from January 20 to 30. We interviewed a total of 14 organizations and individuals, including administrative organizations, research institutes, and private consultants engaged in international cooperation for cultural heritage. We also looked at the institutions Australia uses to create items of international cooperation in cultural heritage, and to develop business. As a result, we learned that Australia has some issues in common issues with Japan – coordination for economic development cooperation and supporting domestic youth – and some differences – a flexible information coordination network between related people and a distinct division of roles. We could collect useful information that will greatly help in examining Japan’s international cooperation structure in future.
Poster exhibition
Panel members
On January 18, the international symposium ‘Rediscovering My Cultural Heritage’ was jointly sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Asahi Shimbun, and the Japan Consortium for International Cooperation of Cultural Heritage. This symposium was our first attempt of focusing on ordinary people, and was planned with the goal of helping people feel familiar with cultural heritage and learn about the existence of international cooperative activities to conserve familiar cultural heritage. We invited author Mr. Asada Jiro and Ms. Brigitte Scholz, a representative of IBA Corporation Project who works on the use of the German industrial heritage, to introduce a new type of heritage. In addition, reports were given by Mr. Kwon Sujin of the Toyota Foundation, and Mr.
Shimizu Shin’ichi, the director of the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation of National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo; these individuals spoke about examples of international cooperation for cultural heritage. We also exhibited panels that introduced international cooperation activities for cultural heritage in Japan, and distributed pamphlets. Nearly 400 people participated, and the message could be transmitted to many people.
Restoration of textile object at the Cultural Heritage Center of Mongolia
Interview at the Mongolian National Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage
From February 26 to March 4, the Japan Consortium for International Cooperation in Cultural Heritage conducted investigation in Mongolia to gather information related to the protection of cultural heritage and international cooperation. Two to three hours of interviews each were held at 12 major museums and organizations engaged in the protection of cultural heritage in Mongolia. When, in 1990, Mongolia became a democratic nation, the administration of cultural properties also underwent a great change. Now laws and systems for the transmission of valuable tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Mongolia, including the culture of the nomadic people, are becoming established. Plans for capacity building and the investigation and registration of cultural properties distributed throughout the nation have also begun.
A scene from the workshop
Poster session at the workshop
“International Cooperation in Living Heritage,” a workshop organized by the Japan Consortium for International Cooperation in Cultural Heritage (President: Hirayama Ikuo), the secretariat of which has been entrusted to the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation, was held on January 9..In this workshop various topics related with international cooperation in conservation are discussed. The workshop in January, which is the second in a series of such workshops, focused on the living heritage, in other words on “heritage that is kept alive and utilized.” Over 100 experts from various disciplines participated. In the keynote lecture, Dr. Richard Engelhardt, Regional Advisor for Culture in Asia and the Pacific at UNESCO Bangkok, spoke on the background that led to the concept of living heritage, the importance of international cooperation in conservation that includes the local people, and the role that Japan is expected to play in conservation. Case studies were also introduced, including academic research and practical restoration projects undertaken in Vietnam by Showa Women’s University and the study on living heritage in Southeast Asia by Dr. Miura Keiko of Waseda University. In the panel discussion, topics such as what kind of problems are faced at sites, what needs to be conserved in the context of changing systems of value and how Japan can cooperate in the conservation of living heritage were discussed actively among the panelists and the audience. The Japan Consortium for International Cooperation in Cultural Heritage plans to hold workshops regularly in the future and to provide support in constructing a network of experts related with international cooperation in conservation.
