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| Japan Museums Association | |
|---|---|
| Name | Japan Museums Association |
| Native name | 日本博物館協会 |
| Formation | 1950 |
| Headquarters | Tokyo |
| Region served | Japan |
| Membership | museums, curators, conservators |
| Leader title | President |
Japan Museums Association is a national professional association founded in postwar Tokyo to coordinate museum practice across prefectures, museum types, and cultural sectors. It serves as a hub linking municipal museums, national institutions, university museums, and private collections to standards, training, and advocacy. The association plays a key role in coordinating disaster response, conservation practice, and international exchanges involving institutions such as the Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, National Museum of Nature and Science and regional museums across Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kansai and Okinawa Prefecture.
The association emerged in the context of reconstruction after World War II and the reorganization of cultural institutions during the American occupation under policies influenced by the Allied occupation of Japan and the Ministry of Education (Japan). Early membership included staff from the Tokyo National Museum, the National Diet Library's museum units, and the nascent networks of prefectural museums in Aichi Prefecture and Osaka. Throughout the Shōwa period and into the Heisei period, the association expanded activities in response to heritage legislation such as the Cultural Properties Protection Law (1950), and events including the 1970 World Exposition in Osaka and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano Prefecture. Post-2011, the association coordinated recovery work with stakeholders including the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan), the Japanese Red Cross Society, and international organizations after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
The association's mission aligns with statutory frameworks such as the Cultural Properties Protection Law (1950), and policy instruments administered by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan), emphasizing preservation, access, and education. Objectives include advocating for funding with bodies like the Ministry of Finance (Japan) and promoting professional development for curators affiliated with institutions such as the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and the Kyoto City Museum. It supports legal compliance with statutes overseen by the Supreme Court of Japan where judicial interpretation affects collections and restitution, and advances collaboration with international treaties such as the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the UNESCO World Heritage Convention for museum-held artifacts.
Membership encompasses national museums, prefectural museums, municipal museums, university museums including those at University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and Osaka University, and private foundations like the Nihon Keizai Shimbun-affiliated cultural bodies. Governance is structured with an executive board drawing presidents and directors from the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Ethnology (Japan), and leading regional museums in Fukuoka Prefecture and Hiroshima Prefecture. Committees engage specialists from agencies such as the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo and professional associations including the Japan Art Dealers Association.
Programs include professional training seminars for conservators from institutions like the Conservation Center for Cultural Properties and curatorial internships coordinated with the National Museum of Western Art. Activities encompass emergency response drills with the Japan Coast Guard and disaster preparedness partnerships with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (Japan), traveling exhibitions that have circulated to venues such as the Sapporo Art Museum and Nagoya City Science Museum, and community outreach modeled on collaborations with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government cultural initiatives. The association organizes biennial conferences featuring speakers from the Smithsonian Institution, the British Museum, and the Musée du Louvre.
It publishes bulletins and technical reports drawing on scholarship from researchers affiliated with the National Diet Library, the Tokyo University of the Arts, and the International Research Center for Japanese Studies. Periodicals disseminate conservation case studies, provenance research relating to collections affected by wartime displacement and property law, and exhibition catalogues developed jointly with the National Museum of Art, Osaka. Research projects have examined links between museum practice and tourism promoted through agencies like Japan National Tourism Organization and regional bureaus.
The association issues professional guidelines for collection care that reference international standards from bodies such as the International Council of Museums and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). Accreditation frameworks align with national regulatory regimes administered by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan) and follow conservation protocols practiced at the Tokyo National Museum and the Osaka Museum of History. Standards cover preventive conservation, loans policy with institutions like the British Museum, and ethical codes referencing international instruments including the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.
The association maintains partnerships with foreign institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the British Museum, the Louvre Museum, and networks such as the International Council of Museums and the Asia-Europe Museum Network. Bilateral exchanges involve museum professionals from South Korea, China, France, Germany, and United States of America, and multilateral projects linked to UNESCO programs. Collaborative disaster preparedness and provenance research projects have engaged the Getty Conservation Institute and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM).
Category:Museums in Japan Category:Cultural organizations based in Japan