People Inside Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture Vol. 3: Role of TOKYO Smart Culture Project Staff at Arts Council Tokyo [Part 1/2]

News & Reports

2025.03.24

From left to right: Kumiko Fukui, Minako Taguchi, and Manae Kobayashi. In front of the 3D data of a public bath, Kodakara-yu, at the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum.

Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture is an organization dedicated to promoting arts and culture through the operation of metropolitan cultural facilities, such as art institutions, museums, theatres, and halls, and through various Arts Council Tokyo programs. This article series focuses on people working in the foundation to introduce their jobs and personalities. The third edition features three members of the Digital Creativity Division who are in charge of the TOKYO Smart Culture Project: Kumiko Fukui, Manae Kobayashi, and Minako Taguchi. The first part of the article is based on a round-table discussion among the three on their collaboration with the cultural facilities and their view on the project’s future activities.
*Department names and titles are as of the time of the interview

Collaboration with cultural facilities to promote digital archiving and their use

The Digital Creativity Division was established within Arts Council Tokyo in FY2023, and the three in the division are responsible for the TOKYO Smart Culture Project. The project develops the digital infrastructure of the metropolitan cultural facilities operated by the foundation, promotes the digitization and utilization of their collections and valuable materials, and integrates cultural resources with technology. While efforts to create digital archives have already been underway at each facility, the team collaborates with the different facilities to further advance the digital initiatives with a new perspective and create “an environment where anyone can enjoy arts and culture anytime, anywhere.”

Releasing around 370,000 digital data in five years

──You’re responsible for both the utilization of digital archives and digitization of the data before archiving.

Kumiko Fukui: That’s right. As for digitization, the foundation-operated facilities had set a goal even before the launch of the Digital Creativity Division. The plan is to publicly release approximately 370,000 digital assets from the six art institutions and museums by FY2025. The intuitions—the Edo-Tokyo Museum, Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum—house their unique and diverse collections. Digitizing these materials is one of the focus projects we are working on with each of the facilities.

Minako Taguchi: By the way, the initiative I am responsible for, which is to create digital archives of valuable materials owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, is a new project. They hold extensive collections of materials, including documents from their opening, information bulletins, flyers, and programs, but unlike art institution and museum collections, these materials were not originally considered worthy of archival preservation. However, with Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and other theatres and concert halls within the foundation beginning to digitize their valued materials, the team at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre reached out, asking us to work with them while they are temporarily closed. That was how the project began.

Understanding and realizing facilities’ requests

──How do you collaborate with the facilities on their respective projects?

Manae Kobayashi: The process is primarily driven by the requests we gather from each facility, and we propose plans based on those requests. To make sure the project is mutually satisfactory, we engage in thorough discussions and persuasive conversations. All the facilities are very cooperative, but staffing shortage is a challenge everywhere. They go through a rigorous process when evaluating whether the project is truly beneficial and whether it justifies allocating their limited human resources.

──Being asked about the project’s benefits must be a little unnerving. How do you go about persuading them?

Kobayashi: In the case of Meta Bath ~A digital view of a Tokyo-style bathhouse~, presenting it online allows us to overcome physical distance, and that’s the advantage of the format. I, too, had a frustrating experience when I was a curator at the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum and was unable to open an exhibition on sento (public bathhouse)—THE SENTO: The history and the culture of the bathhouses in Tokyo—as planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We had already been sharing 360° camera images and videos, but I kept pushing, saying, “There are still so many things we want people to see, right?” (laughs). With Meta Bath, you can enjoy views that are only possible in digital space, like a bird’s-eye view from the ceiling. I believe viewers can discover something new even if they are familiar with real sento.

Meta Bath ~A digital view of a Tokyo-style bathhouse~

Taguchi: The digitization of the LP record catalog, which we are working on with the Music Library at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, is a project initiated in response to a specific request from the facility. By digitizing the catalog and making it searchable through the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), we can inform the general public where the data is located. We are using the traditional paper card catalog and plan to convert and publish nearly 40,000 pieces of data digitally.

Fukui: In some cases, we work on multiple projects with a single facility. With Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, we are developing a program to provide new music appreciation experiences in preparation for the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics next fiscal year. This project enhances concert accessibility by converting sound into visual information, allowing Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to enjoy music performances. Addressing social issues through digital technology is a major challenge for us. While this approach differs from archiving, we see it as part of the environments the TOKYO Smart Culture Project aims to create. This year, we also worked on online concert streaming as a step toward this goal.

Team works with all facilities

──You have different past careers. What kind of person do you think is well-suited for a TOKYO Smart Culture Project role?

Taguchi: Since we work with a wide range of materials related to music, art, and other cultural fields, I think this role is perfect for those who love such materials. In fact, we feel that simply being involved with materials is enough to make us happy.

Fukui: People who like digital technology will also find this work enjoyable. Having a curiosity for new technologies and actively and repeatedly conducting research and interviews is essential.

Kobayashi: Joining this team means working with all the institutions managed and operated by the foundation, so it allows you to gain a broad and comprehensive view. For example, when I was a staff member at one of the facilities, I had a limited understanding of the Tokyo Museum Collection (ToMuCo) —Integrated Database Search for Metropolitan Museums—[1] and simply regarded it as the destination of our facility’s database. But since joining my current team, I have come to grasp the mechanisms and intentions behind integrating all facilities’ databases and have started exploring future possibilities. Personally, I’d love for more people within the foundation to recognize us as a team that collaborates across different facilities and departments. I want people to feel comfortable reaching out to us casually.

[1] Tokyo Museum Collection (ToMuCo) is a database that allows searches of materials and artworks housed in Tokyo’s metropolitan museums (Edo-Tokyo Museum, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, and Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum).

https://museumcollection.tokyo/en/

From left to right: Kumiko Fukui, Minako Taguchi, and Manae Kobayashi

Overcoming space-time and linguistic barriers to tackle social issues

──You play a crucial role in connecting the organizations and facilities. Finally, could you share your vision for the future and what you hope to achieve through digital initiatives?

Kobayashi: I believe that many of the geographical or temporal barriers preventing access to cultural resources can be overcome through the use of digital technologies. They allow people to fully explore, listen, and research from anywhere without visiting a specific location. I wish it to be our future and feel we are already moving in that direction.

Taguchi: Through my experience with the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum Map & Guide [2], I’ve noticed that many visitors come from overseas, and they are eager to learn about architecture. I believe digitization and multilingual support can help meet this demand. Another advantage of digital tools is the ability to track access numbers and user history. I hope to use the feedback to improve our services.

Fukui: Through programs like music appreciation support, we have started to see the potential of addressing social challenges through digital technology. The benefits of digital tools can become even more apparent when the target audience is clearly defined. It would be wonderful if our project’s unique approach toward tackling social issues could lead to new works of art.

[2] The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum Map & Guide is a web app that guides visitors through the museum with maps and explanations. It also offers an augmented reality feature for explanations on-site.

Interview and text: Nodoka Sakamoto, photography: Aya Hatakenaka, translation: Erika Ikeda

(Continue to Part 2/2)

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