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Overview
Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture through Popular Art reflects the complexity of Japan, where ancient Buddhist temples watch over the shinkasen (bullet train) as it speeds between cities, and where a tiny space between tall buildings on a crowded city street can be the perfect place for a calming water garden. This exhibit invites visitors to discover aspects of Japanese culture by introducing them to people, things, situations and stories depicted in works of Japanese art. At the heart of the exhibit are environments and activities that present a broad depiction of Japan — traditional and contemporary, urban and rural, past and present, fantastic and realistic.

Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture through Popular Art consista of three main activity areas, each based on a work of art, artistic form or tradition. The focus areas are: 1) Fantastic Animation, featuring film animation: 2) Manga Mania, organized around manga (Japanese comics) and anime (Japanese animation): and 3) Artful Traditions, based on woodblock printing and scrolls.

Kids hop on the magical Cat Bus from Hayao Miyazaki’s film My Neighbor Totoro. Visitors can be a shopkeeper or customer in a modern manga store, and create their own manga drawings and animation. Visitors take off their shoes and step into a traditional tatami (woven floor covered) room for a tea party, try on kimono, yukata or happi (traditional Japanese clothing) and play the ancient card game karuta.

Size: 1,500 square feet

Venue Length: 3 months

Cost Per Venue: $35,000 plus inbound shipping

Available: April 2008

Target Audience: Children ages five through 12, families and groups.

Languages: Text graphics are in English and Spanish.

Goals:
• Provide immersive environments in which visitors encounter Japanese culture through different artistic forms and traditions.
• Stimulate visitors’ awareness and recognition of Japanese art.
• Foster understanding and awareness among museum visitors for Japanese childhood experiences.
• Promote conversation about Japan and Japanese culture.

Support:
Marketing, publicity and educational materials, installation guide and on–call site support are provided.

Previous Host Institutions:
Seattle Children’s Museum: Seattle, WA
Felix Adler Children’s Museum, Clinton, IA
Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum of Albuquerque: Albuquerque, NM
The Children’s Museum of Memphis: Memphis, TN
Boonshoft Museum of Discovery: Dayton, OH
Minnesota Children’s Museum: St. Paul, MN

©2006 Presented by the Freeman Foundation Asian Exhibit Initiative Administered by the Association of Children’s Museums. Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture through Popular Art was developed by Minnesota Children’s Museum and The Children’s Museum, Seattle, in partnership with Studio Ghibli and the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Japan.



Contact Us
E–mail: travelingexhibits@mcm.org
Phone: 651–225–6037 or 651–225–6053
Fax: 651–225–6006
Minnesota Children’s Museum
10 West Seventh Street
St. Paul, MN 55102

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