The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
Future scientists get a head start
The Science Museum in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, was established in 1964 in Kitanomaru Koen park in central Tokyo by the Japan Science Foundation to foster young people who want to pursue the sciences.
Its mission is to widely disseminate and heighten understanding of such areas as scientific and industrial technology.
Entering the museum, visitors will see on the left-hand wall a large panel bearing the names of those who donated money to construct the facility. In 1964, Japan was in the middle of the high-growth period, that year witnessing the Tokyo Olympics and the launch of the Tokaido Shinkansen line.
The museum was established with strong support from such fields as politics and business, as the driving force behind economic development was believed to be support of scientific technology. The panel bears the names of more than 200 companies and organizations. Many of the companies listed no longer exist, making us feel the passage of history.
The museum is laid out in an unusual way, with five structures radiating out from a pentagonal building at the center. There are 20 exhibition rooms, and with no restrictions on visitors’ movement through the facility, they can spend as much time as they like in the areas that interest them.
Costs related to the exhibits, such as creation and maintenance, are provided by 36 companies and organizations, including the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc. and the Japan Federation of Construction Contractors.
Children’s intellectual curiosity is piqued by such exhibits as a car that shows how hybrid vehicles operate, and a lever-operated tower crane that moves balls.
Also popular is equipment that allows visitors to easily move a 17.5-kilogram sphere of stainless steel, using such items as levers, pulleys and wheels and axles. The ball moves around the room, and children chased after it when I was there.
Walking around the museum, I realized that there were relatively few written explanations or directions. “We want people to not just look and read, but to learn by doing,” said curator Kyo Matsuura, 40.
Experiments and other activities are conducted in a wide range of fields in programs that are conducted more than 40 times a day at the museum, such as experiments using electricity and magnets, and extracting crystals from solution.
In one experiment, a carnation was placed in liquid nitrogen. When clasped lightly in the presenter’s gloved hand, the petals fell apart with a crunching sound, drawing cries of “Wow, that’s amazing” from the round-eyed children watching.