“Our culture, our knowledge and our lifestyle encapsulated.” That was the formidable task assigned to two cauldron-like vessels in 1968 during the first meeting of the Expo ’70 Time Capsule Committee sponsored by Panasonic Corporation and Mainichi Newspapers.
Two sets of 2,098 items were selected for burial, including various samples of synthetic materials, foodstuffs and toys, documentation of the atomic bomb, Japanese coins and flag, the contents of a ladies’ handbag and a pair of slippers. The entire collection was then sterilised using ethylene oxide gas, or in some cases, such as that of the katsuobushi (dried, fermented tuna), via exposure to cobalt-60 radiation, before being buried in the two spherical, stainless-steel containers at the Osaka Castle Park site.
A Tutankhamun’s tomb of the twentieth century (without the body obviously), one of the capsules is to remain buried for 5,000 years for posterity and the benefit of our descendants. The other, containing its matching set of contents, was re-opened for the first time in 2000 and will be opened again every 100 years hence – because five millennia are an awfully long time to wait for seventies fashions to come round again.
But in 6970 AD, when the time is ripe, those unearthing the relics will be greeted with what the committee dubbed the “1970 Rosetta Stone” written in Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish and signed by those “who believe in the prosperity of Mankind” in the hope that future beings will appreciate “the particular spirit of the year 1970 AD”. I (fs)
panasonic.net
Photo courtesy The Mainichi Newspapers Co‚ Ltd. / Panasonic Corporation.
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