More than 80% of the Peace Museums across Japan have problems in maintaining facilities July 31, 5:04

As a result of a questionnaire survey conducted by NHK at peace museums nationwide that held planned exhibitions on the theme of air raids of the previous war, more than 80% had problems in maintenance of facilities such as "aging" and "operating expenses". It turns out that I think there is.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the war.
NHK collaborated with Director Masahiko Yamabe of the Wadatsumi No Koe Memorial Museum this month for the peace museums and museums nationwide that store the materials that convey the damage caused by the air raids of the previous war and the testimonies of experienced people. We conducted a questionnaire survey and received responses from 138 facilities.

Of these, when asked about the maintenance of the facilities, they answered that more than 80% of 114 facilities had problems.

When asked about specific issues with multiple answers, 77 facilities have the most "aging", "operating cost" is 57, "securing personnel" is 45, "decrease in visitors" is 32, etc. ..

In the free description section, "The staff with specialized knowledge of historical materials is aging, but it is difficult to secure new human resources" or "The storage space for the materials is insufficient, and there is not an appropriate storage environment, so the materials deteriorate There were many voices saying, "There is a fear."

As for the storage of war relics, more than 60% of the total facilities, 83 facilities, said they had problems, and nearly half of them had refused donations from bereaved families.

Hiroshi Yoshida, a historian who is Professor Emeritus at Hitotsubashi University and is the director of the Tokyo Air Raid and War Damage Information Center, said, ``In Japan, there are very few public memorials and museums related to war We have gathered a number of records, but they are likely to be lost rapidly in the last few years, which will be a huge obstacle to passing on the experience to the next generation." ..

At a facility in Koto Ward, Tokyo

The Tokyo Air Raid and War Damage Information Center in Koto Ward, Tokyo is one of the museums that responded.

The plan for the Peace Memorial Hall in Tokyo, which was scheduled to be built, was frozen due to the conflict of opinions of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, so it was constructed and managed by private people in 2002.

However, the number of visitors in 2018 is 9933, which is more than 30% less than that at the peak, and securing operating costs is an issue.

In addition, regarding the acceptance of war relics, we have refused because we could not secure a storage space and personnel for management.

The center says, "It is important to leave a place to convey the history of war, so I would like young people to visit."