Cute mechanical toys give time of peace to Japanese amid continued pandemic

 February 28, 2022

Cute mechanical toys give time of peace to Japanese amid continued pandemic 

The small art museum located in Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, used to be a guesthouse for a local sake Japanese rice wine brewer. Currently owned by Okawa City, the facility usually displays its collection of paintings and other art works, but it has become an exhibition theater for cute mechanical toys, some of them mysterious.

The two-story, semi-Western style building was completed by Seiriki sake brewer in 1908. It was used as a privately run art museum from the 1950s, and then, it was donated in 1996 to the city, which reopened it for citizens after renovation in 2001.

As the event comes amid the covid-19 pandemic, visitors are asked to register their name and mobile phone number at the entrance so that if a virus infection is found there, they may be so informed any time soon. This kind of measure has been taken by public facility operators throughout Japan since just after the start of the pandemic. 

Visitors also have their temperature checked at the entrance. After using a hand disinfector, they receive a pair of thin plastic gloves from the staff. 

They can touch and move the toys and other objects displayed with their gloves. When the toy's handle is turned around or the button is pressed, some objects start playing mysterious music and sound. 

This enables visitors to forget their hard days from early 2020 with the virus and refresh themselves for a while. 

The latest event, held at Owaka City Seiriki Art Museum from early January to late February, displays about 80 pieces of work crafted by five artists. The largest part of them are built by a local architect-turned mechanical toy maker. 

His pieces feature witches, fairies, rabbits and other creatures, as well as working figures like a baker and a woodcutter. 

Okawa City has been known as a hub of woodworking plants, which produce mainly furniture.

Based on its tradition of woodworking, the city aims at spreading enjoyable wood crafting among citizens and other people, not just adults but also children, a receptionist said. "We have organized the exhibition to demonstrate the fun of woodworking to many people" while taking anti-infection measures, she said.