Ayami Shimojima: Sweets Making and Archaeology

I majored in Ethnology and Archaeology in the Faculty of Letters and completed my master's degree. After gaining experience as an excavation investigator for buried cultural properties, I am currently involved in museum planning work.

Alongside this, as a "Sweets Play Planner," I engage in activities to convey specialized knowledge such as archaeology and the charm of local cultures to children and the general public through communication using sweets. While many efforts to convey the appeal of archaeology are being developed through educational outreach activities at museums across the country and the fan base is expanding, the reality is that it still only reaches a segment of core enthusiasts.

On the other hand, sweets attract many people's interest and excite the heart through taste and sight. Furthermore, by making and eating sweets together, they play a role in connecting people across ages and titles.

I felt the potential of sweets as a communication tool. I thought that through the medium of sweets, I could convey specialized matters—which are often difficult to communicate through straightforward explanations alone—to a wider audience.

Since then, I have been organizing workshops that combine archaeology and sweets as part of events hosted by museums and buried cultural property centers nationwide. To date, I have held these at over 100 locations.

For example, we make cookies kneaded and baked like pottery or clay figurines, parfaits assembled to resemble the layers of a shell mound, and pit-dwelling Mont Blancs with chestnut cream piped out like thatched roofing. Among the participants, many come for the sweets making but end up finding archaeology "surprisingly interesting," which I find very rewarding.

I believe the greatest charm of archaeology is encountering vivid information accompanied by a sense of reality through the "observation" (including tactile observation) of objects. Therefore, in my workshops, I place importance on observing first, rather than just making sweets.

I continue to refine my methods so that participants can experience the unique perspectives and thinking of archaeology through the process of touching actual objects and imitating the information obtained through the five senses with sweets.

In the future, I hope to study sweets-making knowledge and techniques professionally to develop even more delicious and enjoyable activities.