＜概要／目的＞
           Makino herbarium is the 4th biggest herbarium in Japan, behind the University of Tokyo herbarium, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo and the University of Kyoto herbarium comprising about 500,000 herbarium specimens. Makino herbarium also includes specimens collected by Dr. Tomitaro Makino, the pioneer of botanical science in Japan. Such a facility explained above is poorly known by the Tokyo Metropolitan University (TMU) biology students. Therefore, this tour aimed to provide participants with three themes:
1) The general introduction to Dr. Makino Tomitaro and Makino herbarium
2) The importance of natural history museum (i.e., herbarium) and its natural history collections
3) Scientific applications of natural history collections
The tour's content was derived from the practitioner's experience as a former curator assistant at Royal British Columbia Museum and Makino herbarium and using the collections stored in the Makino herbarium. In addition, this tour aimed to increase the self-comfortability of explaining the difficult concept and develop skills to communicate scientific concepts to the practitioner, especially in Japanese, making the practitioner feel less confident.

＜方法／企画としての特徴＞
           Provide TMU students in the biological science department with an internal tour of Makino herbarium for the duration of one class period (1.5 hours). Separate tours were conducted in Japanese and English to provide an equal opportunity for Japanese students, students in the English program and international students to visit and experience Makino herbarium.

＜活動内容／具体的成果＞
(1) General introduction of Dr. Makino Tomitaro and Makino herbarium
           The first part of the tour was dedicated to explaining who Dr. Tomitaro Makino was and his contribution to botanical science in Japan. Some of the highlighted points include the number of specimens he collected throughout his lifetime, keeping good relationships with the local amateur botanists, and all the various locations he visited to deepen his botanica knowledge. The topic carried the history and current scientific significance of the Makino herbarium. Highlighted the initial organization processes to elevate Dr. Makino's collection into the form of the herbarium specimens and the collections made by the researchers in the Systematic Botany Laboratory (e.g., collections from the Ogasawara Islands).
(2) The importance of natural history museums and their natural history collections
           The second part of the tour mainly focused on the value of the natural history museum and its natural history collections. This section discusses general management and organization systems in the herbarium, the importance of the plant specimen itself, the associated collection data (e.g., specimen label), and the importance of type specimens. It also provided some precocious treatment during the pressing and mounting specimens. The participants were able to see the original protologue published in 1904 and type specimens cited in the protologue. Also, they were able to observe the methods required to make informative herbarium specimens.
(3) Scientific applications of natural history collections
           The last part of the tour was dedicated to introducing various scientific applications to which herbarium specimens can be used. The biggest concept explained here was using herbarium specimens as the giant database to use as a proxy to inform temporal changes n the earth, for example, vegetation change, loss of biodiversity, and effects from global warming. Also, some minor concepts included information we can extract from the specimens themselves (e.g., morphology and phenology) and how that can be integrated into research. The participants had a chance to observe the morphological differences in the Dryas ajanensis ssp. beringensis and Dryas integrifolia and their hybrid Dryas x chamissonis, and intrafamilial differences in the morphology of the fern sori. Also, participants saw the specimens that provided an initial research inspiration for the practitioner's current research, such as resolving taxonomical confusion on Microlepia pseudostrigosa.  

＜感想／課題など（企画力／評価力／自主性等の向上を含む）＞
           Overall, I evaluated the tours as very successful because I was able to communicate scientific concepts to participants; and gained the confidence to explain complex concepts in Japanese. On this tour, instead of giving a vague explanation, I focused on delivering a precise understanding of the concept without any compromises. I learned that such an aim was achieved not only from the highly planned explanation, the inclusion of visual aids such as the herbarium specimen that represents the concept that I wanted to explain. Luckily, I knew the herbarium collections stored in the Makino herbarium so well that I was able to find and show them to the participants. The only one downside of my tour was the date of the tour. Several students attended the field courses on the day I conducted the tour. Therefore, I could only provide a tour to 12 students in total. Therefore, I would like to conduct a similar kind of tour again in the near future so that many students can be engaged with the scientific potential of Makino herbarium and other natural history museums.