National Museum of Nature and Science Unusual CRAFAN due to Lack of Funds Serious situation without sufficient support from the government, even though the amount exceeded 100 million yen in 9 hours.

When I look at the opinions about crowdfunding, there are many people who say that they want the government to guarantee the base of operations. The current system has no safety net to protect museums and the research environment, and once an economic crisis occurs, the funds will dry up in no time.

Kenichi Shinoda, director of the National Museum of Nature and Science, says with a grim expression on his face.

On August 7, 2011, the National Museum of Nature and Science, which has its main building in Ueno, Tokyo, launched a crowdfunding campaign with a target amount of 100 million yen, saying, “We are facing a major financial crisis. The fact that Japan’s leading science museum, both in name and reality, had run into operational difficulties shocked many people, and the goal was reached in just 9 hours and 20 minutes from the start. As of the end of October 2011, donations totaled approximately 800 million yen.

With the goal far exceeded, the immediate crisis of the Museum being unable to collect and preserve specimens and materials, which is the raison d’être of the Museum, has passed. Some of the funds will be used to further enhance the collection and preservation system and for collaboration with science museums in Japan.

The current collection of specimens and materials at Expo Kagaku consists of about 5 million items, including specimens of animals, plants, fungi, living plants, minerals, fossils, human remains, and materials on the history of science and technology, about 80% of which are plants and animals.

Of these, less than 1% are on display in the main building at Ueno, and most are stored in a repository in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture. The specimens and materials in the collection include type specimens on which scientific names are based and important cultural properties, etc. In order to keep the vast number of specimens and materials in perfect condition, it is necessary to create an appropriate storage environment. The vast storage facility requires a large amount of funds for maintenance and management, including air conditioning and specimen arrangement.

In particular, specimens collected 100 years ago or from the Edo period (1603-1868) cannot be restored once they are damaged, nor can they be collected again. Therefore, the temperature and humidity must be controlled as a top priority, but if the operating funds run out, preservation itself will become impossible.

But why did a museum that bears the name of “national” and attracts 2 million visitors a year get pushed to the brink of crowdfunding? Behind this was the global crisis that began in the 1920s, and the problems with the system surrounding the Museum of Natural Science.

First of all, the Museum is an independent administrative institution, which means that it does not depend on the government for all of its operating funds,” Shinoda explains.

Since the transition to an independent administrative institution, our policy has been to increase the ratio of external funding, and to try to cover as much of our expenses as possible with external funds. Now, about 80% of our funds come from the government, and about 20% are external funds such as admission fees,” said the director.