2025 Volume 134 Issue 1 Pages 5-12
There are more than 5,700 museum facilities in Japan. The types of museum are wide-ranging. They include general museums, which cover nature, history, culture, and art, as well as art museums, natural science museums, zoos, aquariums, and botanical gardens. The entities establishing them are also diverse. They include both public and private sectors, and encompass independent administrative agencies, universities, companies, public interest corporations, and individuals. These museums face common and individual challenges. The Science Council of Japan has been discussing the current situation and problems of museums in Japan. As a result, it has drafted a future vision for museums, which indicates the directions museums should follow to fulfill their public responsibilities, and has issued recommendations, opinions, and reports on solving problems. In 2022, the Museum Act in Japan was revised to indicate the future directions of Japanese museums. The Science Council of Japan takes the view that careful responses are necessary considering the current situations of museums. It also held a public symposium focusing on natural history museums entitled “Considering Natural History Museums as Cultural Facilities.” The contents of the symposium included discussions on issues facing Japan's natural history museums, such as operating budgets, staff structures, research structures, material collection and storage structures, reductions of storage spaces, specimen material management structures, disclosing large volumes of specimen data, updating exhibits, comprehensive systems for users, and responses to revised laws.
