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2019.7.9 Tue
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"Minpaku Discovery Tour (for OU students only!)" held

On Sunday, June 30, Osaka University and the National Museum of Ethnology (or the Kokuritsu Min zoku Haku butsukan , also known as “Minpaku”) held a joint project entitled “Minpaku Discovery Tour” at Minpaku. A research center specializing in both anthropology and ethnology, Minpaku combines one of the largest museums in the world, with exhibits on display detailing everyday life, culture, clothing, and housing of peoples from all over the world, with graduate school education.

This project was held with the aim of fostering a sense of international-mindedness in OU students, which will allow them to converse with people from different cultural backgrounds. This tour, which was organized and carried out based on a cooperative agreement between OU and Minpaku to foster academic exchange, provided a great opportunity for students to get a good look at the latest exhibits and research activity at Minpaku.

Despite the inclement weather, undergraduates and graduates alike from both science and liberal arts fields participated in the tour, which consisted of a variety of programs lasting from 10:30 am until 3 pm.

In these programs, participants got a tour of the facilities, which included explanations regarding the exhibition hall, a tour of the repository not open for general viewing, a lecture regarding fieldwork in the Arctic region on life with reindeer, and an introduction to and lecture on the Korean folk music tradition, pungmul . In addition, students visited the director-general’s office, where OU alumni and Director-General of the National Museum of Ethnology YOSHIDA Kenji held a discussion with students, in which he stressed the importance of having a variety of experiences as a student and expanding one’s view of the world in order to deepen understanding of different cultures. Director-General Yoshida also hopes students will utilize Minpaku as a foothold for starting their own research.

The students who participated in these content-packed programs left satisfied with the tour, with students even staying after the tour had ended to view the exhibition hall, making for a day full of great learning opportunities.

みんぱく・展示解説
Professor KASHINAGA Masao gives an explanation of the exhibition hall

みんぱく・館長との対話
A discussion was held between Director-General YOSHIDA Kenji and students

みんぱく・ガイダンス
A guidance session with Associate Professor SAITO Reiko

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