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Kids Love the Gifts Included in Kagaku Magazine
This scientific magazine targeted at Japanese children always includes amazing and extraordinary science-related gifts. |
Valorado por 1 usuarios
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This is a microphone that produces magical sounds and is made with a spring |
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What is Kagaku magazine like?
Kagaku (Science in Japanese) is a magazine published by Gakken that is targeted at children. The publication was launched in the 60’s and focuses on the world of science. Throughout the 1980’s, Kagaku, along with Gakusyu (Learning in Japanese, also published by Gakken), sold a total of 670 million copies a month. Though it may seem exaggerated, this means that approximately 2 out of every 3 school age children had a subscription to the magazines at the time.
People who grew up back then have fond memories of Kagaku . These adults are now nostalgic about the wonderful gifts the magazine used to include. In its early days, Kagaku magazine did not include gifts and sold very few copies. After a bunch of meetings about how to improve this situation, a conclusion was reached: Gifts would be included with the magazine so children could perform experiments and make observations.
However, the road was far from easy. At first, the publisher’s staff couldn’t think of anything original to give away. They also had to look for specialists to help them out and had to adhere to a very strict budget. They contacted many factories trying to get them to offer pieces for the lowest possible price. Many professors from important universities and scientists who had won important awards such as the Nobel Prize also helped them. When they finally launched the magazine with the gifts, they were criticized because these could be dangerous for children, since some items included chemical substances.
Despite the criticism, thanks to the publisher’s efforts and enthusiasm, and to the many people who cooperated with them, the magazine gained society’s trust and became the most popular magazine for children.
The idea behind this magazine was born of a desire to teach children that science is something that can be fun. Many important scientists have confessed that the magazine was key in inspiring them to become scientists and, of course, this influenced many people who are now adults. In fact, a new version of the magazine aimed at nostalgic adults was launched not long ago. Those kids who just could not wait to receive new magazines with these very special gifts, used to hum along to the tune of a song that went, "Not yet, not yet. Isn’t Gakken’s lady here yet?". I used to love those gifts too and I remember running home with the gift bag and being very excited to open it and discover something new. Today this magazine continues to delight Japanese children.
What are Kagaku’s gifts like?
The gifts are educational and always science-related: something to assemble in order to learn about mechanics, plants to take care of and watch grow, living beings so children can observe how they grow. Some examples:
Notostracans, mysterious living beings that already existed in the Jurassic period.
Mini Ghost Cinema, a dome shaped projector that projects ghosts.
Roberval’s Scales, with little monkey figures to use as counterweights.
Travel Through Time with Pan’s Kitchen, to learn about how bread has evolved through history by making breads with different textures and from different time periods.
They are original and fun gifts that are intended to stimulate children’s curiosity and interest in finding out how and why things work.
Links
Yahoo Japan
Gakken
WikipediaOtonanokagaku
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1 comentarios. Valoración media: |
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Interesting Story for Understanding "Kagaku"! |
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This story is very interesting. We can understand the back ground of the publication "Kagaku" and the editors' efforts.
The publication of "Kagaku" was 1957. The fact was shown in the website of Gakken (in Japanese text) :-)
Thank you very much for wonderful document! |
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Publicado por M Yagishita. |
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