Thinking of enriched Shizuoka in 100 years’ time

Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka has an exhibition on climate change adaptation, the first of its kind in the country. The museum is making various efforts using the exhibits to encourage people to think of climate change impacts and adaptation as their own problem. We interviewed Professor Kazuyoshi Yamada at the Museum of Natural and Environmental History and Yasuhiro Morinaga, Senior Staff at the Environmental Policy Division of Shizuoka Prefecture.

Thinking of climate change adaptation as our own problem

In Shizuoka Prefecture, a permanent exhibition on climate change adaptation is installed at a museum, the first of its kind in the country. It is two weeks since the exhibition is opened. How are the visitors reacting?

Yamada: We opened the exhibition at the permanent exhibit area on Saturday, June 29, 2019. Since then, a lot of visitors have enjoyed it. We had a hard time preparing for the exhibition but I really feel glad that we have finally made it when I see parents and children pick up books and enjoy reading together or children watch creatures in the patio garden.

When did you first think of an exhibition on climate change and adaptation?

Morinaga: When the prefecture was formulating climate change adaptation policies as the prefectural climate change adaptation plan in FY 2018, an idea of an exhibition at a museum was discussed as a means of dissemination to the prefectural citizens. We noticed that Museum of Natural and Environmental History’s basic philosophy of “to ensure that Shizuoka remains ‘wealthy’ in one hundred years” would fit the concept of climate change adaptation. We then talked with Mr. Yamada at the museum and started discussions in autumn of the same year. As the prefecture was planning to mount a campaign on the environment in June, we aimed at opening the exhibition during the campaign.

Yamada: When I first heard from Mr. Morinaga, I felt it should be something to be conveyed to citizens constantly not by a temporary exhibition. Climate change adaptation had complicated and difficult aspects. I had to think very hard what words and design to be used to create the exhibits. Captions for exhibits should not contain too much information. While I was racking my brain what expressions to be used in order to help visitors to take the issue of adaptation as their own problem, Mr. Morinaga gathered illustrations and pamphlets of the National Institute for Environmental Studies. Using those materials, I thought, I wouldn’t have to start from scratch. That was most encouraging.

Morinaga: It is very important in promoting individuals’ effort for adaptation that citizens think of it as their own problem. However, it is difficult to express what individuals can do by exhibits. For example, farmers can think of improving varieties of crops or cultivation methods. The local government can collect findings and provide them. What can individuals do? That was a difficult question to answer. It holds true in many fields besides agriculture.

How did you solve those challenges?

Yamada: I tried to express what individuals can do about the impacts from climate change as simply as possible. The exhibits show impacts on the prefecture’s main agricultural products, such as tea, wasabi and orange, and the adaptation measures. Learning that orange made in Shizuoka might no longer be available in the future due to climate change, some people may accept the fact and think it can’t be helped. Other people may become aware and decide that something must be done to conserve it. We will continue to provide visitors with a trigger to think as their own problem. The museum was formerly a high school. As a remnant from the past, books are placed on the desks in the adaptation exhibition. Every adult should have experience of reading a text at school. I hope the arrangement will remind visitors of their school days.

Morinaga: Buying the prefecture’s products will lead to helping the producers and all other people concerned and finally to supporting adaptation of the prefecture’s agriculture. I hope that the exhibition will help visitors take an interest in about the local products.

I hear you are considering exhibiting parasols in summer?

Yamada: It is Mr. Morinaga’s idea. We are preparing for displaying parasols in the patio garden. I hope visitors learn that they can do “adaptation” easily and enjoy the experience.

Morinaga: We were thinking of encouraging the use of parasols in the prefecture, inspired by the efforts of the Ministry of the Environment and Saitama Prefecture. I suggested the idea to Mr. Yamada and he said he liked the idea. So, we could put the idea into action promptly.

Yamada: Under a parasol, the temperature is said to fall by 2°C. I did a search for parasols and I was surprised that so many different designs were available. I hope visitors will try them out and begin to consider using one.

An interactive museum was born.

How did the Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka come to open?

Yamada: The idea of founding a prefectural museum was first discussed in 1984 and it was included in the prefecture’s comprehensive plan. Soon, a bubble in Japan’s economy burst and the plan of founding the museum was shelved. Researchers and enthusiasts kept calling for the establishment of a facility where people could learn about nature in the region. In 2011, it was decided that this museum was going to be established on the site of a prefectural high school. A part of classrooms with desks, chairs and blackboards were to be left as they were. The museum was opened to the public in 2016.

How many people work for the museum?

Yamada: There are 13 employees including six researchers. It is a very small organization compared with many other museums in the country. However, more than 100 volunteers called Museum Supporters are registered. With the help by the community, the number of annual visitors is on the increase. The supporters help us with the maintenance of the inside and the outside of the building, event planning and exhibit explanation.
There are 10 permanent exhibition rooms, two special exhibition rooms and a walk called “Natural Observation Walk – Path of Biodiversity” in the backyard. Shortly after the museum opened, children saw insect specimens and asked me “Are they real?” We were shocked. In the old days, children were more exposed to nature as they grew up. Nowadays, children hardly have a chance to catch beetles. They may have seen one in a video game. The specimen of a real beetle may look like a toy to those children. Faced with the reality, I feel creating a place where children experience nature is what the museum is required to do and it is our mission.
We try to make the explanations of exhibits as short as possible. We want visitors to take time and observe the specimens. If they have a question, they can ask our staff and they will deepen their understanding. We are aiming for an interactive museum where we are ready to answer questions from visitors.

Yamada: We are in the information age. If we want to know something, we can always browse the Internet and we get an answer. But that is why we want the museum to provide a chance to see real things. We try not to rope off the exhibits as much as possible because we want visitors to have a close look at the exhibits. That was not taken well at first. However, we shouldn’t only worry about the risk of exhibits being broken. It is important to create atmosphere that makes visitors care about the exhibits. The exhibits have never been broken since the museum was opened. I believe children get our message.
Our interactive event Family Meeting for Future Earth has been always popular from the start of the museum. Participants discuss for 20 minutes with our staff such topics as climate change, biodiversity and water resources. For example, supposing that extremely hot days are continuing but an air-conditioner is not available, we provide future prediction figures and the prefecture’s policies and all the participants discuss what we can do.

Why do you focus on the interactive feature?

Yamada: Fixed information like an exhibit is difficult to update whereas circumstances surrounding global warming and climate change keep changing. We thought it would be made possible to provide the citizens with the latest information if exhibits involved people. A study session is held every month for the employees and supporters. The researchers share findings they obtain from research and academic meetings at home and abroad. We often gain information from citizens. I hope the museum will serve as a base of knowledge integration through the interaction.

Please tell me future outlooks and comments if any.

Yamada: Museums are open to communities. There are thousands of museums in the country and they may explore new ways of utilizing them suitable for the situation of each region. If the plan is promoted strategically, it may get a budget. I want museums to be utilized more effectively. We will keep improving our museum so that citizens feel happy to have it in their community.