Many nostalgic items from the past: “Exploration of old life” (Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture)

An exhibition titled “Exploring Life in the Past” is being held at the Municipal Museum of History in Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture, displaying tools of daily life used from the Taisho to Showa eras.

About 200 items, including rice cookers, telephones, game consoles, etc., dating from the Taisho, Showa, and Heisei eras, are on display. Some of them are tools from the Edo period.

In the section with school lunch supplies, a milk bottle lid opener is displayed for the first time; it was used about 30 to 50 years ago and was designed to prevent children from being injured by the needle at the tip.

This exhibition is held every year to help elementary school students learn about history. In past years, more than 40 elementary schools from Joetsu City, Myoko City, and Itoigawa City have visited the exhibition as field trips.

Children who visited the museum
The children said, “It was interesting to see how different things were in the past and still are today.
It was interesting to see how things used to be made with fire, but now they are made with electricity.
It was amazing to see the evolution of pencil cases and rice cookers. （I thought that life is better now because (in the past) we couldn’t use electricity.

Joetsu City Museum of History Hanaoka Deputy Director
Mr. Hanaoka said, “I think that thinking about the enjoyment of old games and the ingenuity of daily life will lead to the SDGs. I hope such things will be nurtured in the children.”

■Exhibition: Exploring Life in the Past
Period: January 4 (Wed) – March 12 (Sun)
Place: Joetsu City Museum of History, 7-7 Honjo-cho, Joetsu City (in Takada Joshi Park)