PEOPLE

ーーThe Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution attained World Heritage listing on July 5, 2015, at the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee convened in Bonn, Germany. Looking back, what did you feel at the time?

The moment the listing was announced, I was watching the televised proceedings at the Fukuoka prefectural government headquarters. We were told the listing was a sure thing, but then difficulties arose in the coordination with the South Korean delegation, so the decision was delayed two days. I remember being nervous. But that made my joy only the greater when the listing was finally announced. Mr. Ogawa, Governor of Fukuoka and I raised our hands in a banzai cheer. Ms. Koko Kato was in Bonn then and her smiling face appeared on the screen. Everyone there agreed, the World Heritage listing of the Sites of Japan’s Meiji industrial Revolution was totally due to her enthusiasm and energy. I had no doubt about it. It has been three years since then, and my conviction that we couldn’t have done it without her only grows stronger every day.

ーーHow did you come to know Ms. Koko Kato?

If I recall correctly, she sought me out in Fukuoka with an introduction from Mr. Fumio Ohue, Representative Director of the MI Consulting Group (MICG). It was a long time ago, so my memory is hazy, but at that time she was still at the stage of searching for the best way of working towards the World Heritage listing.

She had also graduated from Keio University which made me feel an affinity with her. But that wasn’t what made me want to support her cause. It was her passionate appeal that moved me. She pulled out a lot of documents from her large backpack and talked to me about her hopes for World Heritage listing. “A small Asian country like Japan was able to become a major economic power because of the people who devoted their lives to Japan’s industrialization,” she said. “Japan’s castles and its temples and shrines are certainly historical treasures to be proud of, but I think it is our industrial heritage that is a true world heritage.” I was overwhelmed by her fervor and really moved. When I was working at the Kyushu Electric Power Company, at one point I was ordered to help raise funds for such places as the Kyushu National Museum and the Saga Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Tosu (Saga HIMAT). I was also involved in getting a department store with an old tradition back in business. I tackled these jobs with the conviction that I had a mission to work for Kyushu, so I fully understood Ms. Kato’s strong wish to do something for our country.

ーーYou were born in Fukuoka and joined the Kyushu Electric Power Company right after you graduated from university. I gather you have a strong love for the place of your birth. Could that be another reason you became involved in the project for the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution?

Certainly, that is one reason. I have a special passion for Ryotaro Shiba’s novel, Clouds Above the Hill. Just thinking about World Heritage listing for the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution was enough to fill me with excitement. Kyushu people take great pride in our region. I grew up being told by the adults around me that Kyushu’s day would surely come, but it never did (laughs). I was feeling frustrated about that when Ms. Kato appeared on the scene. As you know, many of the industrial heritage sites are located in Kyushu. I knew if they achieved World Heritage listing it would be a great boon for the whole region. So, I knew right away that this was an important undertaking.

Furthermore, Ms. Kato just didn’t talk about her dream, she had a strategy to make it a reality that was very persuasive. I listened to her with great interest.

ーーYou are referring to her idea of a serial nomination, I take it. The idea for the Sites of Japan’s Meiji industrial Revolution was first proposed in 1990 by Mr. Kimiyasu Shimadzu (Counselor to Shimadzu Limited. and Member, Board of Directors of the National Congress of Industrial Heritage) after reading Ms. Kato’s book on industrial heritage. He wanted to have Shuseikan listed as a World Heritage site. Ms. Kato set to work on it right away by proposing the idea to the late Dr. Stuart Smith, the renowned authority on industrial heritage and former secretary-general of The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH). In 2002, she took Dr. Smith to see the former Satsuma domain’s Shuseikan, the industrial heritage assets held by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki, the Kosuge Slip Dock, and Takashima Coal Mine. He advised her that these could be listed as World Heritage if they were all linked together. But Japan had no experience in making a serial nomination. A lot of people were skeptical of the idea at first.

Even before considering a serial nomination, I think there were people who questioned the very idea that industrial heritage could be listed as World Heritage. But I was one of those who thought from the very beginning that it could be done. Of course, it wasn’t easy. The sites that came under consideration included operating assets like the Nagasaki Shipyard and the Miike Port and there were numerous issues of how to reconcile the requirements of the Act on Protection of Cultural Properties with the economic activity of the corporations that owned and operated those assets. Still, I was convinced that if we drew up a strong project plan and timed things correctly, it could be done. It’s not that I was optimistic so much as that my experience told me this was doable.

For example, back when I was fundraising to establish the Kyushu National Museum, the ultimate goal was to raise 10 billion yen in total. I was the second head of the fundraising committee in the Kyushu Electric Power Company. When I took this on from my predecessor, it seemed a rather vague target. Yet in the end we alone raised over 4 billion yen, which was much more than our local target. This experience taught me that where there is a will, there is a way. My personal conviction is that you either do something or you don’t. There are only two choices. You need to plow ahead with the conviction that you can do it, no matter what anyone says.

For the World Heritage project, my first reaction was, “Let’s do it!” After that it was only necessary to figure out how to do it. We simply had to be systematic and plan carefully when considering how much money we needed. Not that I contributed that much to the overall effort.