50 th Anniversary of the Museum's Founding, "Museum conservation: Past, Present, and Future," and extend my sincere gratitude for being invited as a commentator.Thank you to all the speakers for the thought-provoking and comprehensive summaries of the history of museum conservation in each field.As an expert on conservation environments and a supervisor at one of Japan's leading museums, the Tokyo National Museum, Hiroshi Wada provided the audience with the latest information on producing air-tight display case with high air purity inside.He demonstrated the changes in humidity distribution within the display cases and other such improvements clearly and effectively, providing basic data that can be cited in the future.This will serve as a blueprint for anyone planning to create display cases from now on.Yoshinori Sato focused on the prevention of biological damage, which is a major challenge in Japan.His talk examined the issues from various angles, from the past to future prospects, and outlined paths toward resolution.Cutting edge research using PCR primer identification for DNA barcoding was thoroughly explained in a way that was easy to understand, even for non-specialist audience members.As he mentioned at the end, it is possible that the problem of ghost silverfish has spread due to the movement of cultural materials around the world, and this relates to yesterday's talk by Tom Strang.Museums both in Japan and abroad should heed this important warning about the risks of transporting cultural properties.Takako Yamaguchi's talk covered the history of photograph preservation and the establishment of JIS and ISO standards, looking at the process by which rules were established through cooperation between industry and researchers in the field of conservation both domestically and internationally, while providing a broad introduction to the activities of the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum within this context.This was a thought-provoking talk both for those about to embark on the study of photograph preservation, as well as those already grappling with the issues.It also presented the rationale behind Tokyo Photographic Art Museum's environmental standards, providing important ideas for the preservation of photographic materials.Using actual examples, it tackled the question of what lifespan can be expected from different storage environments, clarifying how the decision-making process operates, and creating an important foundational resource for the future.Each speaker's presentation was clear and specific, providing a detailed rationale for Chie Sano 198their respective approaches, with evidence-based decisions, and data-based evaluations.This trajectory seems to reflect the very policy of research and investigation that Japan has pursued in the field of conservation science for the past 30 years.Around 1990, the conservation science research topics at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties were mainly around the development of material analysis, storage environments, gas fumigants, and restoration techniques for wood, stone and metals.At the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, the focus was on the conservation of historical sites and excavated artifacts, and there were many reports on the use of polyethylene glycol to treat the wood of large structures.
Chie Sano (Tue,) studied this question.