About the Conference Venue “Minpaku”
The National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan
http://www.minpaku.ac.jp/english/
Founded in 1974, the National Museum of Ethnology (MINPAKU) is an inter-university research Institute housing the largest museum in Japan specializing in anthropology and ethnology, and an extensive library of publications in these areas. Minpaku researchers study human cultures in societies around the world using a wide range of approaches. In addition, they collect ethnographic artifacts and audiovisual materials to record and help us understand diverse cultures and ways of thinking. The results of the research projects are made public in many ways, through publications, exhibitions, public lectures, symposia, web sites, and popular media.
Today, humanity faces many challenges. Fieldwork based studies of human cultures in societies are becoming increasingly relevant for the development of communities where people with different values live together and in contact with others. Minpaku researhers aim to use their expertise to respond to current social concerns and interests. At Minpaku, it is the hope that visitors to the museum will enjoy exploring different cultures and enrich their experiences of other ways of living.
Participants in ICHL20 may be interested in visiting the newly renovated section on Language. Among the items in the exhibit that may be of particular interest are interactive machines exhibiting video data and word-order features of some 200 languages from around the world, including some sign languages; children’s picture books (The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Little Prince) in various languages with recorded readings, including braille versions in more than 10 languages; the kotoba-stamp machine, on which people can generate sounds and words by combining consonants and vowels; a small section on the braille system; a large panel showing the geographic distribution of genetically related languages around the world; and a large panel where script samples are shown on a map of the world.
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