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【インターンシップレポート】糸魚川ジオパーク(Paramate Khamphoo)

2022年3月8日 11時35分
The Itoigawa UNESCO Global Geopark (UGGp) is located at Itoigawa city, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. It is interesting that this designated conservation site lies on the Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line (ISTL) and Fossa Magna. They are two important geological structures, which have formed the several gorgeous Kanto’s mountains and transferred the various-sized gemstone (Jade) from a deep internal crust to earth’s surface as the exceptional geological and natural resources to be originally made in Itoigawa city. These stunning natures closely relate to the human life and their long-term interaction has shaped the unique culture and tradition as the most famous Jade of Japan and the world’s oldest Jade jewelry industry. According to the adequate and satisfactory outputs from all activities through the synergy among local stakeholders, the Itoigawa City Hall, a major organization working on the Geopark’s support and promotion, received a certification from the Global Geoparks Network, that makes the Itoigawa Geopark is the first Global Geopark in Japan as well as the best role model for other national Geoparks.

The Fossa Magna Museum is main educational center to disseminate the dazzling values of Itoi-gawa’s resources, which is one of the UNESCO’s goals to increase the public awareness on the pre-cious local nature and culture. After it was established, the sufficient conservation, raising pride of Itoigawa’s resident, and rural sustainability have been significantly gone up. In my short-term in-ternship, I was trained not only as a curator, but also as a Geopark’s officer to learn the four roles supporting the Itoigawa UGGp as follows: 1) Research: producing new discoveries, 2) Education: continuously communicating on high valuable resources to public, 3) Storage: looking after the out-standing samples with a well management system and 4) Exhibition: displaying the partial samples and attractively arranging them in a museum. Furthermore, it was an opportunity to observe the surrounding prominent geological sites such as the Omigawa Jade Gorge, ISTL observation park, Benten-Iwa, Salt trails and Oyashirazu site. Therefore, a skill of how to link all kinds of local re-sources as the wonderful and simple stories showing the unusual multidisciplinary features of Itoigawa UGGp, was gradually developed during the internship. This was the special experiences provided by CPNC because I have found that a curator or Geopark’s officer is my expected career in the future.
The image capture of rock, fossil and mineral samples is a crucial part of specimen registration
for the Museum’s manageable storage.  
Photo by Yousuke Ibaraki, Curator at Fossa Magna Museum