Japan Museum for Everyday Life in a Pandemic

A list of food to go. Directions for attending a funeral. A note to cancel local summer celebrations.

These simple, everyday objects of life in the pandemic have found a home in the Historical Museum of Urahoro in Hokkaido, in northern Japan.

This small town of 4,500 people does not even have a movie theater. But thanks to Makoto Mochida, it now has a place to tell future generations what it was like to live in the time of COVID-19, things like social distancing or public fears over the pandemic.

As curator, Makoto Mochida selects the objects to place in the museum. "I am fascinated¹ by how things connect with people," he said.

Mochida said some people are surprised that he is collecting objects that should be thrown away. But he believes the items provide "an excellent way to accurately² archive history." And he admits that he has problems throwing things away at home, too.

There are documents showing how children were taught to start online schooling³ and directions on how to make face coverings. Several hundred objects have been collected so far, after a call went out to locals in the area.

After the Spanish flu of 1918-19 – the last great world pandemic - letters and notes provided⁴ details about life during that health crisis⁵. That pandemic killed more than 50 million people.

But these days, papers and notes have all but disappeared. And their digital versions⁶, like emails and social media messages, are all but lost in a sea of cyberspace⁷, Mochida said.

He is planning a big show next February to present more of his collection. It will be a follow-up to the smaller museum, which centers mainly on how masks have developed over a short period of time.

At first, masks were hard to find in Japanese stores. Some earlier ones were made by hand from old clothes. Then came masks that permit wearers to eat and drink or that were made out of clear plastics. The coverings eventually became fashion statements, some with complex designs.

Cases of COVID-19 have been growing in Japan. But Urahoro has not yet recorded a single case.

At first, the community ignored the pandemic. Then fears began to grow as outsiders and adult children working in Tokyo or nearby cities would come to visit.

The small town decided⁸ to end in-person eating at restaurants in an effort to reduce any virus spread. So people began to take out a local food favorite called "spa-cut" to eat at home. It is a meat-sauce noodle topped with fried⁹ pork. Before the pandemic, it was not even a possibility to take the popular food home.

Shoko Maede was born in Urahoro and works¹⁰ as a cook at a school for young children. She says that many years from now she can almost imagine how people will struggle to remember what life was like during the pandemic.

"They may think, ‘Oh, so this was the way it was,'" she said, after visiting the museum.

I'm Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

pandemic - n. an occurrence¹¹ in which a disease¹² spreads quickly and affects a large number of people around the world

curator - n. a person who is in charge of the things ion a museum

fascinated - adj. very interested in something

accurately - adv. free from mistakes or errors

archive - v. to collect and store materials (such as recordings¹³, documents, or computer files) so that they can be found and used when they are needed

digital - adj. using or relating to computer technology

cyberspace - n. the online world of computer networks and especially the Internet

mask - n. a covering used to protect your face or cover your mouth

1 fascinated   

a.被强烈地吸引住，感到着迷的

参考例句：

• China has always fascinated me. 中国一直令我心驰神往。
• The children watched, fascinated, as the picture began to appear. 电影开始以后孩子们入迷地观看着。

2 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

3 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

4 provided   

conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的

参考例句：

• Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好，我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
• I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨，我就来。

5 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

6 versions   

n.译本( version的名词复数 )；版本；（个人对事件的）描述；（原物的）变体

参考例句：

• There are two versions of the game, a long one and a short one. 这游戏有两个版本，一长一短。
• When both versions of the story were collated,major discrepancies were found. 在将这个故事的两个版本对照后，找出了主要的不符之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 fried   

adj.油煎的；油炒的

参考例句：

• I ate everything fried.所有油炸的我都吃。
• I prefer fried peanuts.我选择炸花生。

10 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

11 occurrence   

n.发生，出现，事件，发生的事件

参考例句：

• Two things account for its occurrence.发生这件事的原因有两个。
• For a military commander，winning or losing a battle is a common occurrence.胜败乃兵家常事。

12 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

13 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐