From February to November, 2019, we held the special mobile exhibition "Thawing Earth: Global Warming in Central Yakutia, Siberia" at 3 museums in Japan and at 2 venues in Sakha Republic, Russia. Based on the research results of the Tohoku University Group of ArCS Theme 7 (TG-ArCS7), and the collection of Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples (HMNP), this exhibition was produced by HMNP and the Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, and opened at HMNP first. Then with the cooperation and support of neighboring museums (Shiretoko Museum; SM and the Hokkaido University Museum; HUM), it toured them.
At HMNP and SM, ethnic culture of Sakha people was emphasized as about 30 cultural items of Sakha were displayed at the exhibition. At the HUM, explanatory panels were central role in the exhibits. As the HUM is situated at Sapporo, the largest and tourist city in Hokkaido, in spite of short period of time, many visitors had come to see the exhibition.
At the same time, in accordance with the organizers wishes, the mobile exhibition in Sakha Republic had been prepared. With the help of Russian co-workers in the Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North, Russian Academy of Science, Siberian Branch, several tasks, for example translation of the Japanese text into Russian and Sakha languages, transportation of posters printed in Japan to Sakha Republic, and so on, were progressed. At last the exhibition was opened in Yakutsk, central city of Sakha Republic, and in Khaiakhsyt village, where academic research of TG-ArCS7 have been conducted, and Russian co-workers, cooperators and many local residents were pleased to see it.
Atsushi Nakada (Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples, a collaborator of Theme 7)
The opening ceremony of the mobile exhibition in Yakutsk.
