Municipal employees in Nagasaki have carried out the annual airing of the official register of atomic bomb victims. The document, containing 202,053 names, was exposed to the air to remove moisture accumulated over the year. Before starting the process, workers offered a silent prayer, beginning a preservation ritual repeated every summer to prevent paper deterioration.
Document preservation: the low-tech method against humidity 🌿
The process is simple but effective: the bound volumes are opened and placed on stands for several hours, allowing natural air circulation to dry the pages. No climate control systems or industrial dehumidifiers are used. This manual method prevents mold growth and paper deformation, common problems in Japanese historical archives due to high seasonal humidity. The technique has remained unchanged since 1945.
The only municipal procedure you can't do online 😅
While in most city halls documents are digitized and stored in the cloud, in Nagasaki they prefer the traditional method: fresh air and patience. Imagine the intern's face when they're told their task for the day is to open a book to air it out. At least they don't have to blow on each page individually. But if someone sneezes nearby, half the census is lost in one go.