Easy Japanese “Workshop” ～ Kibi International University’s international students take on the challenge of making museum language easier to understand, changing it from “difficult” to “clear”

Have you ever read an artwork description at a museum and thought, “The language is too difficult—I don’t really understand it”?

Perhaps you have also thought, “If only it were easier to understand, I could enjoy it even more,” because the text was full of technical terms and stiff expressions.

At the Hayashibara Museum of Art in Okayama City, in response to such feedback, an initiative will be launched at the museum’s special exhibition “Getting Started with Art Appreciation: A Guide to How to Look,” opening on June 28, 2025. Descriptions of every artwork will be presented in “easy Japanese.”

A preparatory workshop was held on May 28, 2025, at the Cube student hall at Kibi International University in Takahashi City.

Here’s a look at the workshop.

Hayashibara Museum of Art special exhibition “Getting Started with Art Appreciation: A Guide to How to Look”

From Saturday, June 28 to Sunday, September 7, 2025, the Hayashibara Museum of Art will hold the special exhibition “Getting Started with Art Appreciation: A Guide to How to Look,” which gently introduces the “highlights” and “ways to enjoy” each artwork through its diverse collection, including swords, calligraphy and paintings, Bizen ware, and Noh masks.

The descriptions in this exhibition are written in “easy Japanese,” making them easy to understand for children and people who are not familiar with Japanese.

Background and purpose of the special exhibition

First, we asked Hashimoto Ryo, a curator at the Hayashibara Museum of Art, about the purpose of this special exhibition.

“Actually, I write captions, but when I read them myself, I sometimes feel they’re hard to read because they contain so many technical terms,” Hashimoto said.

He said he was aware that these words could be a barrier for people encountering them for the first time, precisely because he had specialist knowledge. He said that the realization, “Surely our visitors feel the same way,” became the starting point for creating this exhibition.

• What is beautiful about a sword?
• What are the highlights of this artwork?

Hashimoto says the goal of writing captions is to present these points from a perspective anyone can understand, without trying to pack in too much—for example, “First, just look at the hamon (the pattern on the blade)” or “Enjoy the changes in this shape.”

To help people unfamiliar with Japanese art enjoy it, Hashimoto had already been finding ways to improve the captions. Through this work, he encountered the idea of “easy Japanese.”

Starting with the September–November 2023 exhibition “Use, Mend, and Pass On: SDGs from Long Ago,” the museum began incorporating “easy Japanese” into several exhibitions. Since then, it has continued putting the approach into practice while observing visitors’ reactions.

The Hayashibara Museum of Art then decided to take on the challenge of using “easy Japanese” throughout this entire special exhibition.

However, “writing simply” is by no means easy.

“It’s actually much easier to write in a specialist style,” Hashimoto said. Even when there is a lot of information to convey, you have to narrow it down to one point and write concisely, accurately, and in a way anyone can understand. He emphasized how difficult it is to meet all three requirements at once.

This background led to the workshop being held at Kibi International University.

International and Japanese students work together! Evaluating how “easy” the captions are

At Kibi International University, international students take part in initiatives that let them use the Japanese they have learned in class in real-life situations, interact with local people, and deepen their understanding of Japanese culture. Guided by this educational philosophy, the university has focused on a range of activities that value intercultural experiences and connections with the local community.

As part of these efforts, the students checked and evaluated whether the “easy Japanese” captions written by the Hayashibara Museum of Art were communicated clearly to international students.

Eighteen international students from six countries—China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Nepal—and Japanese students took part in the workshop that day.

Working together, students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds considered the challenges of Japanese, ways to communicate effectively, and the role of museums.

Aiming for a museum everyone can enjoy

Helping the Hayashibara Museum of Art make its special exhibition accessible in “easy Japanese” is Takao Hiromi, representative of Marble Workshop LLC.
Alongside volunteering at Japanese-language classes, she continues to promote the importance of “easy Japanese” at museums across Japan.

Takao explained, “By getting international students at Kibi International University involved, we hope to create text that is easy to understand and enjoyable for people whose first language is not Japanese, as well as for people who are not very interested in art.”

For Takao, evaluating descriptions based on the candid opinions of international students before the exhibition opens to the public was a new challenge.

The workshop, conducted through a process of trial and error, proceeded as follows.

1. First, read the original description
2. Use sticky notes to freely write down “what is hard to understand” and “what caught your interest”
   Mark sections where the text as a whole feels difficult with red lines and numbers, then explain them
3. Share observations with all participants

What kinds of conversations took place? Let’s take a look at the workshop.

At the workshop venue

Descriptions and photographs of artworks prepared by Hashimoto from the Hayashibara Museum of Art were laid out around the venue.
Hashimoto and Takao then went around to each table and explained the artwork photographs and descriptions clearly, as follows.

• Emakimono (handscrolls)
  Long sheets of paper on which stories or landscapes are depicted continuously from side to side
• Byobu (folding screens)
  Foldable screens that were also used to divide rooms or provide privacy
• Real scenes vs. imagination
  The difference between a landscape seen in real life, such as Mt. Fuji, and an imagined world based on Chinese classics
• Narrative paintings
  Paintings that depict the scenery seen by the characters and the objects around them, allowing viewers to imagine the story

They spent about 10 minutes on each artwork, carefully observing and discussing it in their groups.

As they read the descriptions, Japanese students carefully explained, one by one, the parts that the international students did not understand.

One activity involved carefully observing the expressions and differences of Noh masks, then trying to interpret the emotions and roles they conveyed.

Several other photographs of Noh masks were also placed on the tables. Participants compared them and picked up the descriptions, letting their imaginations run free.

The international students listened with keen interest, moving from the words in the descriptions to the background of the artworks and even the characteristics of various periods in Japanese history.

This is an unusual initiative in Japan: with the help of international students, the results are compiled into descriptions in “easy Japanese” and incorporated into the exhibition.

The international students who took part shared comments such as the following, and many showed expressions of surprise and discovery.

• I don’t understand what this word means.
• The way the straw is wrapped around this vessel is the same as in my country!

Hashimoto and Takao also made their way around the venue, chatting and smiling with participants. The event was lively and welcoming throughout.

After the workshop, participants held a feedback session about the project.

“Even words like ‘embroidery’ can be explained verbally, but they’re difficult to put into writing. And yet, that’s precisely when new ways of expressing things come into view.”

Hashimoto says that the participants’ straightforward questions and opinions also gave her many new insights.

We spoke with Takao Hiromi, who has worked across Japan to promote “easy Japanese,” about her activities.

Get handpicked articles from Kurashiki Tocotoco on LINE