On November 6, the National Museum of Nature and Science (Kokuritsu Kagaku Hakubutsu-kan), aka “Kahaku”, made an announcement on the result of a crowdfunding campaign that was run from August 7 to November 5. Calling for action to “Protect Treasures of the Earth: Let's Hand Down Kahaku’s 5 Million Items to Next Generations”, the campaign surpassed the target of 100 million yen in just over nine hours. By the end of the campaign, the museum raised a total of 915,560,000 yen from 56,562 donors, making it the highest-ever crowdfunding campaign in Japan. (The total amount raised is to be finalized on November 13.)

Of the total amount raised, 320 million yen will be used for indirect costs including return gifts to donors, 440 million yen for the enhancement of collections and preservation of specimens and other resources, and 160 million yen for the joint creation of specimens’ replica with other museums, countermeasures against disaster, and arrangement of traveling exhibitions. Meanwhile, the government complimented the museum's voluntary fundraising effort and moderately added that it will "provide support for the national museum's stable operation".

Since the way to support academic, artistic, and cultural activities varies by country, a straightforward comparison cannot be drawn. Nonetheless, Japan's cultural spending is significantly lower compared to other nations. Take a look at the ratio of the cultural budget to the entire national budget and the amount of cultural expenditure per citizen in some countries. In South Korea, the ratio of the culture budget to the entire national budget is 1.24％, and the culture expenditure per citizen is 6,705 yen. It is 0.92％/7,079 yen In France, 0.36％/2,744 yen in Germany, and 0.15％/2,810 yen in the United Kingdom, while it is only 0.11％/922 yen in Japan. For a reference, in the United States, where there is no competent authority for culture and thus private institution runs museums on their own, the values are 0.04%/545 yen. In absolute terms, however, the budget amounts to 180,300 million yen, well over Japan's 116,600 million yen. ^*1

In the early stage of the COVID crisis, the Japanese government called for “self-restraint”, asking people to refrain from going out for “non-essential” and “non-urgent” reasons. As a result, arts, culture, and entertainment industries were left out from the society. Similar situations were witnessed around the world. Under the circumstances, Germany's national assistance in arts and culture drew global attention. The scale, quality, and speed of the measures were undoubtedly impressive. However, what was most splendid was the message delivered by Chancellor Merkel and Culture Minister Grütters, expressed in words like “supporting arts is a top priority of the German federal government", “culture should not be perceived as a luxury enjoyed only in good times", and "culture is the foundation of democracy". The Kahaku’s crowdfunding was a significant accomplishment. However, it also exposed the lack of national initiative. I hope that this has presented an opportunity to reassess the national cultural assistance to pass down the common assets of mankind to future generations.

*1 Source: “Comparative Survey on Cultural Policies in the World” by Platform for Arts and Creativity (General Incorporated Association), consigned by Agency for Cultural Affairs, FY2020

This Week’s Focus, November 10

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President