Mizuno Printing Museum holds various printed matter, books, and printing equipment, from a cylinder seal of about 2000 BC to the products of the modern age. This article introduces the representative exhibits, such as the Hyakumanto Dharani (One Million Pagodas and Dharani Prayers), the oldest printed matter in the world, Gutenberg's 42-line Bible, and Hirano Tomiji's letterpress printing machine registered as mechanical engineering heritage, and explains the history of the spread of modern printing technology in Japan.

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Printing Museum, Tokyo is an institution established by Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. in 2000. We have exhibited various materials worldwide, presenting the everlasting history of visual communication. We have a replica of a wooden press, the original of which is kept at the Plantin-Moretus Museum of Antwerp in Belgium, which honors one of the greatest printers of the sixteenth century. His publication has influenced not only European countries but also East Asian countries, especially Japan. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Japanese were under the influence of books printed by Plantin, which were precious symbols of cultural exchange between Japan and Europe. The influence of the Plantin Press was similar to that of books. Tensho Shonen Shisetsu, a delegation of around ten young men from Kyushu, South Japan, had been to the Vatican and other European countries between 1582 and 1590. One of their missions was to learn the skill of letterpress printing in Spain. They started to publish many books in Kyushu after their return. These young men were supposed to create a press very similar to Plantin Press in Kyushu with other necessary materials, such as moulds, ink, papers, etc. This press has been a mystery, as it no longer exists. What did it look like? How was it made? Nobody knows the answer to these questions because there are no imprints. This article also discusses the importance of the wooden press.

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Tomakomai Mill, Oji Paper Co., Ltd. started operation in 1910. It was known back then as the largest paper mill in the East. It has greatly contributed to domestic paper supply for more than a hundred years. The mill has several facilities certified as a part of Modern Industrial Heritage Sites by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. These certified facilities are as follows. The hydraulic power plants by the Lake Shikotsu began operating in the same year as the mill's establishment and underwent many repairs and improvements over the years. The water channels from the lumberyard to the mill have been used for the transportation of logs, and the log-debarking equipment, called "Drum Barker," has been in operation since 1929. Both these facilities have long been essential for pulp production. Old buildings and structures standing on the mill site remind us of the founding days; some of them are still in use. These facilities indicate the development of paper industry in Hokkaido and some of them are still in operation. The paper machines have not been designated as industrial heritages; however, they have a long history of manufacturing and continuous construction or upgrading based on the request for optimal production configurations.

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Tokushu Tokai Paper Co., Ltd. stores historically significant Japanese specialty papers at Pam (Paper and Material) . First, we introduce the "Punch Card" paper, developed as the nation's first product and certified as an "Essential Historical Material for Science and Technology" by the National Museum of Nature and Science in 2013. Second, we will present the historical backgrounds and papermaking technology of the following products: base papers for counterfeit notes used in secret military operations during World War II, base papers used for official posters, entrance tickets and shooting targets of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

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This article introduces a survey of printing techniques employed for posters in the Ikko Tanaka Archives conducted by the DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion over a period of two years starting in 2013, to serve as a basic study for future research. Ikko Tanaka (1930-2002), one of Japan's most renowned graphic designers, created more than 2,700 posters in his lifetime. The second half of the twentieth century, when he produced a huge number of posters, was a period when the poster culture in Japan, which started at the end of the nineteenth century, reached full maturity. However, hitherto, research on Japanese postwar posters has not been conducted on a scale similar to that of the present survey. In this survey, we examined the printing techniques, printing company, and paper adopted by Tanaka for each of his posters. The poster occupies a unique position in the realm of graphic design because it fits between design and fine art or craft, if defined as a functional art for use in public relations. We believe that a comprehensive study of this unique printing art is significant for future research and for its understanding.

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Since the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties was established in 1950, our country has been producing a record of intangible cultural properties, which are characterized as non-physical objects to be protected, as well as tangible cultural properties. The details of the movement of intangible cultural properties could not be recorded because papers were mainly used for recording. Videotapes or DVDs have recently become popular, thus enabling the recording of intangible cultural properties. The method of recording the on-stage performances of professionals in national theaters is applied to the recording of intangible cultural properties. However, as for the intangible cultural properties succeeded by local festivals, discussions on how they should be preserved have just begun, and there are as yet only a few places to store and exhibit them.

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