Ahead of the game in Nagasaki

Nagasaki museums are trail blazers for museums in Japan. The local authority is the first to exploit new regulations that allow it to appoint a private company to run its museums. So the buildings and collections of the Art Museum and the Museum of History and Culture are owned by the prefecture (local authority) but a private company employs all the staff to fulfil a comprehensive 5 year contract.

Thus far (a year in), it seems to running well. Incidentally, one of the points made in the UK when such an arrangement is discussed is that there is no private sector to undertake this task but the Japanese company involved is a ‘display’ outfit. What odds on Event or Haley Sharpe running a UK museum in 10 years time?

The task of the company is, however, made easier by the fact that both institutions are housed into two stunning new buildings both opened in 2005. The scale of investment given the size of the city is stunning. Equally impressive is the international deals they have set up with the Prado in Madrid and the Ethnographic Museum in Leiden allowing them to exchange and display objects of the highest quality.

Nagasaki is a medium sized city that most of us would never have heard of if the Americans hadn’t raised it to the ground in 1945. Due to the terrain of the region some parts of the old city survive, but the city hasn’t forgotten the attack and has a museum mark the event. It handles a difficult subject with integrity, honesty and no real rancour. Tellingly the place concerned is called the Atomic Bomb Museum but all the locals call it the Peace Museum...