Ishikawa Prefecture is inviting visitors to view a studio where cultural assets are restored in a bid to draw public attention to the skill of art repair, the first such attempt by a local government in Japan.
Ishikawa is known for traditional urushi lacquerware known as Wajima-nuri and is currently the only local government that manages such a facility, although the national museums in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, and Fukuoka have their own.
In 1997, the prefectural government established the Conservation and Restoration Studio of Cultural Properties as part of the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art in the city of Kanazawa to conserve cultural assets from across Hokuriku.