• Nakasato Village hammered out this unique idea to hold an exhibition of precious Mongolian dinosaurs fossils.
• Village chief Mr Kobayashi and the other staffs had the enthusiasm to make that dream come true.

It was indeed a big challenge to set out an exhibition of these fossils which were never exhibitted as an arranged series in Japan before and have scarcely ever been introduced worldwide.

Such an exhibition had never been held before, not because Mongolian dinosaur fossils were worthless. Mongolia is actually one of the most important production areas of dinosaur fossils around the world, and many important fossils have been found there.

Still, towering giant dinosaurs are leading most of the exhibitions these days, and most people think of dinosaurs as something enormously big. That is why rather small dinosaurs from Mongolia no more higher than humans did not have the chance to become famous.

But the situation was somewhat different in Nakasato. Even though a hundred million years have past since the Cretaceous Period when dinosaurs lived, Nakasato still shows a road following to Mongolia.

The Road of Dinosaurs, The Road of Men

A theropod vertebra found in Nakasato in 1984 suggested the way following to Mongolia of the Cretaceous period. It was found out to be quite similar to that of ostrich-mimics found in Mongolia. At that time in the Cretaceous period when this dinosaur ("Sanchu dragon") lived, Japan and the Asian Continent was one continuing land. Because a dinosaur found in Nakasato resembled that found in Mongolia, there must have been a "road of dinosaurs" between Nakasato and Mongolia.

Now one hundered million years have past, and Nakasato has built up a "road of men" between Mongolia. The Japanese and Mongolian Cultural Exchange Association (chairman of directors: Haruo Hasumi, professor of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) has set up its head office in Nakasato. This assosiation has made many grass-roots movements as providing trainings for Mongolian technicians, and opening concerts of the "morin huur", a string instrument representing Mongolia. If it were not for the lines of personal contacts through these activities, the project to bring the Mongolian dinosaur fossils to Nakasato would not have been possible.

Two Roads Overlapped After a Hundred Million Years

When Nakasato people noticed the two roads of dinosaurs and men connecting Nakasato and Mongolia finally overlapped after a hundred million years, they began to dream about holding an exhibition of Mongolian dinosaur fossils. In March of 1995, a planning committee for the Special Exhibition of Mongolian Dinosaurs was organized.

This committee got the concept of the exhibition into shape as follows ;

• Exhibit Mongolian fossils and contribute to the progress of dinosaur studies in Japan.
  • Exhibit fossils of dinosaur which may not be gigantic but precious worldwide (ex. dinosaurs at "bird or reptile" debate, dinosaurs with names that differ from their life styles, etc.).
  • Confirm the connection between "Sanchu dragon" and Mongolian dinosaurs to investigate the road of dinosaurs.
  • Borrow dinosaur fossils never have been reconstructed, reconstruct them at Nakasato, make their replicas and return them with reconstructed fossils.
• Introduce Mongolia to Japan and promote friendship between both countries.
• Encourage the village society.
  • Let the dinosaurs be an opportunity to add new cultures and vitalize the village, where we tend to just keep the traditions because of the high rate of older people.
  • Pay attention to the underground resources of Nakasato, where many fossils of leaves have been found and was called "The geological homeland of Japan" by a German scholar in the Meiji era.
  • Let the exhibition lead to the development of the Okutano area.

The committee also started to contact Mongolia by following "the road of men". According to the laws of Mongolia, all dinosaur fossils are never to be taken outside the country. The committee needed a special permission to borrow those precious fossils. Prof. Hasumi, chairman of the directors of the Japanese and Mongolian Cultural Exchange Assosiation, and Mr Dojoogiin Tsedev of the Union of Mongolian Writers, hunt up their connections to Mongolia.

Off to Mongolia to Establish the Road of Fossils

At last they reached Dr. R. Barsbold at the Palaeontological Center of Mongolia. He was one of the worldwide authorities on dinosaur studies and was in charge of all the dinosaur fossils found in Mongolia. Through the efforts of Mr Tsedev and others, the committee was able to make an appointment with Dr. Barsbold. In the end of June 1995, the following six members representing Nakasato visited Ulanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia ;

• Kazuo Kobayashi, chief of Nakasato village
• Takayuki Yamada, head of the Planning and Adjustment Division of Nakasato village office
• Ikuo Obata, ex-director of the Geology Research Department of the National Science Museum
• Haruo Hasumi, chairman of directors of the Japanese and Mongolian Cultural Exchange Association
• Hiromi Maruo from the Pacific Art Association
• Souichi Makihara, head of the International Division of Harmony Center