Fifty years have passed since the major floods at Venice, Italy. The year 1966 was a turning point in the restoration of cultural properties. In May 14–17, 2016, a joint Canadian–American conference on the restoration of cultural properties was held in Montreal, with countermeasures for disasters as the theme. Along with his group, Assistant Professor Masashi Amano of IRIDeS (specializing in the field of preservation of historical materials) gave a presentation on the distinctive way in which the conservation and preservation of historical materials has developed in Japan.

In Europe and America, restoration specialists are generally in charge of rescuing historical materials during disasters, and it is them who carry out work on the ground. In Japan, however, history researchers are also expected to play this role. Another difference is that while most historical materials in Western countries are stored in locations such as public archives and museums, in Japan, the bulk of such materials are privately owned by members of the general public.

Japanese history researchers frequently undertake fieldwork and have close links with the local community. Thus, in cases where historical materials have been damaged, they can move swiftly to rescue them in coordination with local people. In addition, they have often done restoration work on materials in cooperation with members of the community acting as volunteers. In Western countries, on the other hand, clearly defined roles are laid out for historians, museum staff, librarians and archivists, conservation staff, restorers, and so on, making a very different system from Japan’s approach to disaster prevention with regard to cultural assets. As a result, it has been observed that the approach taken by Japanese history researchers up to the present has been to adopt a cross-disciplinary role as “responders.” Assistant Professor Amano and his group’s presentation threw into relief the differences between Japan and the West regarding the restoration of historical materials, and it was received with deep interest by the conference participants.

As the approach to the conservation and maintenance of materials developed by Japan’s network of history researchers has progressed in its own distinctive fashion, challenges faced by them through disasters such as the Kobe and Tohoku earthquakes have also become clear. Historical researchers have played a leading role in the work that has been carried out until now in Japan; however, their work may become even more effective by being undertaken together with specialists in related fields such as restoration, conservation, and architecture. Going forward, Assistant Professor Amano and his colleagues have expressed a desire to search for effective approaches to collaborate and present their progress at future conferences in a form that will address concerns and draw further interest from overseas.