May 5th is Children's Day. At the end of Golden Week, when the weather was in early summer, the Minamisanriku 311 Memorial held its first ever "Children's Museum Director for a Day" project. The two girls appointed as Children's Museum Directors for a Day were first graders at Shizugawa Elementary School in the town, Miura Mei and Tanaka Yui. In this report, we will share with you how the two girls, who have been good friends since kindergarten, experienced being Children's Museum Directors for a Day.
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When the two arrived at the Memorial with their mother, they changed into the same uniforms as the staff and got ready. Once they were ready, the appointment ceremony began. Memorial advisor Kazukiyo Takahashi presented them with their appointment certificates and director name tags. They straightened their backs and received them with dignity, and when the staff told them they would be taking on the role, they said, "I'm nervous, but looking forward to it!"
After being appointed, they immediately started greeting visitors at the entrance. "Hello!" and "Welcome!" they said in such a loud and energetic greeting that even the visitors were a bit surprised!
When a customer noticed the name tag of the 1-day Children's Museum Director, he said to them, "That's amazing! Keep up the great work!", which made them even more excited.
As it was Golden Week, more visitors than usual came to the museum that day. There were many families with children in particular, and among the cute voices that could be heard throughout the museum, it was particularly impressive to hear the lively voices of the two child museum directors echoing throughout the museum.
After working as the museum director, the family was guided by staff member Takahashi on a tour of the memorial. While watching the videos of various witnesses and the learning program, the family wondered "why?" and learned about the time of the disaster from their mothers. There were many stories they were hearing for the first time.
After the tour of the museum was over, the two directors were presented with commemorative gifts from Memorial for their hard work until the very end!
Although the staff worried that they might be a little tired after doing something they were not used to, after they had finished, they enthusiastically extended the session, saying, "We'll do more!" The friendly duo enjoyed themselves until the very end as they worked as the Children's Museum Directors for the day.
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The two people appointed as one-day directors of the Children's Museum are from the generation born after the Great East Japan Earthquake.
We came up with this project with the hope that, like these two people, generations who did not directly experience the earthquake would become familiar with the Minamisanriku 3/11 Memorial, an earthquake heritage center, and that this experience would serve as an opportunity for them to think about earthquakes and disaster prevention.
This experience project seemed to have given the families an opportunity to think together with their children, and one family member told us as they watched the children, "Actually, this is my first time here."
We have received feedback from past visitors saying, "We don't often have an opportunity to discuss this with our families," or "It's a topic we don't usually think about." We hope that through this experience of being a children's museum director for one day, we have been able to provide an opportunity for families to think together.
Thank you very much to Mei Miura, Yui Tanaka, and their families for participating.
