Cultural properties are humanity’s treasures—created and cultivated throughout history and preserved to the present day. Cultural properties provide insights into the values of the time in which they were created. They also teach us about the lives of the people who created them, along with the people who later cherished and preserved them. Cultural properties are an important means of developing cultural exchange and mutual understanding. They also serve to enrich our lives and inspire new forms of culture.
Modern society is charged with the important task of ensuring these treasures will be passed on to future generations who will live millennia from now.
As part of this task, the National Center for the Promotion of Cultural Properties (CPCP) is establishing information infrastructures and creating new uses for cultural properties to ensure that all members of society are able to experience and enjoy them. The CPCP develops new content and programs that target a broader audience than typical exhibits, including people that are unlikely to visit museums. These exhibits give more people a chance to enjoy cultural treasures while providing educational and enriching experiences.
The CPCP provides opportunities for everyone involved with cultural properties to develop and pursue their own visions, along with contributing to the development of human resources and revitalization of regional communities.
The CPCP develops new ways of engaging with cultural properties to encourage people of all ages to learn about Japan’s cultural treasures and take a stronger interest in them. This will help create a society in which all people, not just museum personnel and volunteers but also ordinary citizens, corporations, and other societal organizations give thought to and participate in protecting and passing on cultural properties.
Using cutting-edge technology, the Planning Section works with companies and a variety of organizations to make reproductions of cultural properties and develop digital content in VR, 8K video, and 3DCG formats that are then presented to the public in hands-on exhibitions and events. We also lend these to other institutions, schools, companies, and organizations. We develop and implement a variety of exhibitions and programs to encourage more people to become interested in and familiar with cultural properties.
There are four museums affiliated with the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage – the Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum, and Kyushu National Museum. In addition, there are two national research institutes – The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties and The Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. These museums and research institutes have many exceptional works of art and archeological artifacts in their collections that are essential for understanding Japanese history, traditions, and culture. Japan’s national museums and research institutes for cultural properties have a long tradition of loaning these works to other museums to give audiences around the world a chance to learn about Japanese culture and history as they enjoy these works.
The Loan Promotion Section makes use of cultural properties related to each region from the collections in these national museums and research institutes for exhibitions, which contributes to regional development and helps to promote tourism. To facilitate this, the CPCP oversees its "Loan Promotion Project," in which it pays the transportation costs and other associated expenses for these institutions to loan their collections to museums in every region of Japan.
Through this program, we aim to promote the appeal and value of important cultural properties and to hand them down to succeeding generations.
A major mission of museums is to preserve cultural properties, the products of people's history and culture, in optimal condition and to hand them down to succeeding generations. Doing this not only requires steps for disaster and crime prevention, but also calls for environmental management to prevent physical and chemical deterioration, and protect from damage caused by insects and mold. This in turn requires the determination of the appropriate environmental conditions (such as the temperature and humidity) based on the type, material, and condition of the relevant items, as well as the design of buildings and facilities to meet and maintain these conditions, and then following up with on-going management.
The Conservation Section contributes to both the conservation and effective use of high-quality cultural properties by providing consultations, surveys for improvements, technical support, and workshops and courses on exhibition and storage environment management at museums and other facilities.
Development of digital media is a crucial activity for effectively managing cultural properties. Excessive handling use of the original versions of cultural works can result in irreparable damage. Digital versions are advantageous as they allow for unrestricted study of the wealth of information that can be gleaned from cultural works while also providing user-friendly formats for viewers to learn about the importance of these works in Japanese society.
The Digital Resources Section comprehensively manages digital resources and information databases of texts, images, and other information related to cultural properties available at each of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage facilities to make them more accessible. The Digital Resources Section also provides consultations to museums interested in taking advantage of these digital resources.
The CPCP develops new ways of engaging with cultural properties to encourage people of all ages to learn about Japan’s cultural treasures and take a stronger interest in them. This will help create a society in which all people, not just museum personnel and volunteers but also ordinary citizens, corporations, and other societal organizations give thought to and participate in protecting and passing on cultural properties.
The General Affairs Section raises funds for the restoration of and research on cultural properties through our website, in-facility activities, and corporate partnerships. We are committed to promoting fundraising projects to connect a growing number of people with cultural properties well into the future.