A third thing I acquired from the experience was the chance to understand those points at which the natural sciences and humanities truly connect. Four of the fellow research students from my first year there were from the field of chemistry. Together with these four I was assigned to the chemistry laboratory. Of particular interest was the fact that three of these people were employees of their respective governments (Iraq, Peru, and Thailand) and were to work in museums because they were women. They fretted over understanding what their connection with the humanities was. When they learned that my background was in art history, they decided to launch an after-hours study group. The idea was that I would give them extra lessons in art history and in return would receive instruction in chemistry. We would hold our meetings at each of our lodgings in turn, and on our days off, we would visit museums. I spent the most time serving as a teacher, but I was also the person who learned the most. Questions would come up about things that I hadn't even once learned or thought about such as "Why were paints applied in such a complicated order in 15th and 16th century oil painting?" and "Why is the sense of opacity so strong in the works of the Impressionists?" I was able to supply answers to many of their questions because I had started out with a topic for my graduation thesis that was close to the history of science and technology, but I needed to give answers that could be understood by a mind imbued in the natural sciences. I learned the natural sciences not as knowledge but as an idea. It was in this study group, too, that I discovered picture painters and house painters were the same profession. My three colleagues, too, found a way to arrange cultural phenomena in the context of natural science, and all four of us went through a major change of direction. The Peruvian conservator who joined our group the following year was an artist who had outstanding copying technique. He found time between his regular jobs and did reproductions. He threw out a variety of hypotheses based on the conclusions our four-person study group had produced. He also became deeply interested in our discussions and tried offering his own suggestions. This, too, was an interesting learning experience.

On November 3, 1966, there was a great flood in Firenze (Florence), Italy, and a request for assistance went out around the world for help in restoring cultural artifacts that had been submerged in the water. The IRPA did not have staff to spare at the time, so I asked my Peruvian colleague if he would like to go there with me to both get practical experience and to help out. So, for three weeks the following April we were members of the help team. The city streets six months after the flood were like a field hospital; people who understood the principles of conservation and restoration were mechanically dispatched from the relief coordinating committee as assistant supervisors to groups of student volunteers. Only the old panel paintings were to be handled exclusively by veteran European conservators. My assignment was the library. A Ghanaian who was at the IRPA at the same time as I was with me. I learned that it did not matter if you didn't take the best measures; but just to apply emergency measures, even if they are not the best, in the shortest period of time. I had to utilize all of my knowledge. Subordinate to me were some 30 student volunteers, whose nationalities and backgrounds varied widely. It was a team that possessed only good intentions and muscle power. The overall director of the effort was the most noted professor in the conservation field. Just before he retired, he turned the reins of his old position over to his successor and situated himself in Firenze. Every evening, we would have dinner with the professor and plan the steps to be taken the following day. It was a busy three weeks, but they gave me a lot of confidence.

A job at the Japan World Expo was waiting me upon my return to Japan. Nearly 500 famous works of art from around the world were brought together at the exposition, and many countries had stipulated that a specialist in conservation management be assigned to the exposition site. Just when the Expo's overseers were worrying about how to find the needed staff, the right person appeared. It was my debut as a museum specialist, but I was completely unknown to everyone other than the professor who had recommended me. There were people among the couriers accompanying us who would say "Professor Coremans said a Japanese person had come to his institute who might be available as a conservator. Is that you?" By the end of the exposition, many people were aware of my existence!

After my job at the exposition came to an end, I went to the Saitama Prefectural Museum as museum specialist responsible for conservation. The museum's only conservator, I was attached to the planning and promotion section where everyone else was involved in handling publicity and education activities. When they got busy, I would also lend a hand with educational duties. I knew from when I was a university student and from reading books on museum studies in other countries that conservation and educational activities in Japan's museums were far behind, so when I was in Europe I also looked through educational materials whenever I got the chance. That stock of information started to become useful as a side job.

Unexpectedly, after about two and half years, I moved to the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. The art museum, which had rented exhibition spaces, had switched over to a model of handling its exhibitions on its own in a newly built facility. It was while I was in discussion with another museum specialist who had entered the field after me that I came to feel that I needed to move on. Therefore, I switched positions on the condition that at the art museum my responsibilities would primarily be to devise and carry out all aspects of operational planning far beyond the planning of exhibitions. I felt my first job was to rid the image of the museum as having specialized in providing rented spaces for groups of artists and develop a new visitor base with broader interest in art. I tried a variety of things, including having visitors look at the setting in which artists do their work and the place where restoration work is carried out, with explanations provided; establishing a relationship with a school for the blind; and providing basic instructions for beginners. Demonstrations at science and engineering museums and my own education experiences from my time at Saitama proved extremely helpful. Given that the plans I developed were improved and used by museums established later, I think they served as a trendsetter, so to speak.