PEOPLE

How to overcome the dilemma between conservation and restoration

――It’s been about ten years since you visited the sites for the first time in 2006, and I’ve heard that you’re in Japan now to conduct a detailed inspection of the current state of conservation and management at each site. Could you please give your honest assessment of the status of conservation and management today as compared to time of your first visit?

Mr. Gamble: This year, I visited all twenty-three component properties over the course of two visits, but in terms of my overall impression, I’ve been very impressed with what has been achieved so far with respect to conservation, management, and succession planning in such short amount of time, which made me proud as someone involved in the project. In particular, the efforts put into creating introductory exhibits and providing guidance by local residents have been wonderful. That these efforts by local communities are firmly entrenched in the strategic framework for conservation and management by governmental agencies like the Cabinet Secretariat and the Agency for Cultural Affairs and are being steadily implemented in each community can be said to be a remarkable achievement.

We are also seeing steady results from the activities of the National Congress of Industrial Heritage, which is a private-sector booster organization tasked with the role of bringing together each component property and providing overall coordination. Something I find particularly wonderful are the initiatives making use of digital media, such as the freely available “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution Guide App Passport” for smartphones, are wonderful. This app helps to convey the conceptual basis and substance of these heritage sites to the general public in a way that is easy to understand. I feel that it offers a very accessible and visual presentation of the twenty-three geographically scattered component properties and the links between them.

Considering all of these various initiatives together, while there are still many issues remaining in the conservation plans and the like, I have the impression that Japan is doing a professional and good job, and is making confident progress.

――What would you say are some of the top issues for future conservation and management?

Mr. Gamble: While each of the twenty-three component properties has its own unique challenges, from a conservation perspective I feel that Gunkanjima presents the most challenges. Gunkanjima is an island that is protected by seawalls and has been infilled with tailings from excavated coal. However, it is located in a harsh natural environment, where it is continuously being buffeted by rough waves and being slammed by typhoons. Over the course of its abandonment after the closure of the mines, both the steel in the colliery facilities and the concrete of the buildings have deteriorated due to salt damage. For this reason, the physical conservation of the island is a paramount issue.

Gunkanjima’s World Heritage value lies in its seawall and colliery facilities. What is important here is to conserve, manage, and pass on the structures from the early period in their original form as much as possible in a long-term and sustainable way. In the case of the seawalls, for example, what will be important are measures to preserve and pass on the Meiji-era stonework techniques that form their foundation, and where necessary to work toward comprehensive solutions using the latest engineering technology. With the colliery facilities, work is already underway to reinforce the original brick buildings, and here, too, I would like to proceed with construction with the same ideas.

On the other hand, the concrete buildings like the high-rise apartment blocks where the miners lived with their families are not recognized as having World Heritage value in their own right, but they are significant as “battleship symbols” that make up the island’s silhouette. Visitors arriving to the island by sea are likely to realize they have arrived at Gunkanjima when they spy the island’s unique silhouette from afar. I think it is necessary to preserve the original appearance of the high-rise buildings as much as possible not only from a technical perspective, but also in the sense of preserving memories.

Either way, with Gunkanjima we will need to resolve the contradictory and difficult challenge of following the dictates of conservation without overdoing things.

――What about interpretive efforts to display the properties and relate their stories and histories?

Mr. Gamble: Interpretation strategies are currently being formulated, and efforts are ongoing to ensure participation by local communities at each site. With regard to displaying World Heritage value, work has only just begun, so I hope to see more of this in future. Visitor centers and parking lots have been set up at Hagi and Kagoshima, as well as other places like the Nirayama reverberatory furnace, with friendly explanations also being provided by a large number of volunteer guides. Even more surprising to me is that no matter where you go, you will see road signs and information boards placed along the main roads leading to the properties. This is a great development.

Conservation and management projects for the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution have only just begun. Overall, we are still at the research and planning stage. There are a mountain of specific tasks that need to be addressed. But Japan and the Japanese people are experiencing a very exciting and valuable moment right now. That’s something that I’d like to get across.

(Interview and Summary: Takeo Takashima; Interpreter: Minae Toya; Photograph: NCIH)