PEOPLE
The History of an Era Opened by an Indomitable Pioneering Spirit and the Power of Our Forefathers
Democratic Party for the People (DPP) Representative for Nagasaki Prefecture
1945 Born in Yamaguchi Prefecture
1964 Graduated from Yamaguchi Prefectural Shimonoseki Technical High School
Field: Politician
Elected nine times to the House of Representatives
1975 (April) Elected to Nagasaki City Council
1987 (April) Elected to the Nagasaki Prefectural Assembly
1990 (February) Elected to the House of Representatives
1998 (August) Appointed Chair of the House of Representatives Special Committee on Coal Measures
2004 (January) Appointed Chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
2010 (September) Appointed Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (First Reshuffled Cabinet under Prime Minister Naoto KAN)
2011 (January) Remained in Office as Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Second Reshuffled PM Kan Cabinet)
2012 (October) Appointed Chair of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Rules and Administration
2012 (December) Appointed Chair of the Democratic Party Diet Affairs Committee
2017 (September) Retired from parliament with the dissolution of the House of Representatives
ーーA Brush with the Vital Legacy of Mr. Mutsuki Kato
I guess it must have been around 2000 that I first met Koko Kato. I had been serving as Chair of the House of Representatives Special Committee on Coal Measures since two years previously, in 1998. That was why I was invited by Tokitoshi HASHIMOTO (a former member of the prefectural assembly) to take part in events held by the Citizens’ Movement Concerning Gunkanjima Island in Nomozaki and Takahama (now part of Nagasaki City). We talked while having a barbecue on straw mats laid out on a site with a direct view out on Gunkanjima.
That was when Koko told me of her idea to get the Port of Miike and other historic industrial facilities in Kyushu and Yamaguchi inscribed as a World Heritage site. Beyond any differences of opinion, this was something that left us all agape at the sheer audacity of aiming for World Heritage inscription (laughs).
I was indebted to Koko’s father Mr. Mutsuki Kato, whom I had enormous respect for, so first and foremost I was deeply moved by this connection with her father. I also remember appreciating how Koko had inherited her father’s sense of justice and vitality.
ーーIndustrial Heritage is the Pride of Japan
My political career began in April 1975 when I was elected to Nagasaki City Council. Before that, I had been a trade union executive at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Nagasaki Shipyard. Since I was keenly aware that the Nagasaki shipyards, which date back to the time of Yatarō Iwasaki, had played a major role in Japan’s modernization, I was in agreement with Koko’s idea that “Japan’s Industrial Heritage” merited registration as a World Heritage Site.
For example, the Giant Cantilever Crane, one of the properties at the Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard, is of Scottish manufacture and is still in operation today, a century after its installation. While the early adoption of such superior machinery shows an eminent clarity of foresight, it is also wonderful that it continues to be used to this day with such great care to support Japanese industry. Like the Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard, the state-managed Yawata Steel Works and the Port of Miike also have immense value. Beyond these working properties, I feel that our industrial heritage is also something that Japan can be proud of before the world.
The history of Japan, a country that, in a corner of Asia, developed world-class technology and launched its industry to grow into an economic powerhouse within a short period of time, is a testament to the indomitable spirit of the Japanese people. When I first met Koko, word was already beginning to spread that we were entering an age of AI technology, but the closer that era came, the more urgently I felt that the story of our forefathers’ power should be passed on. In a world of AI, some may forget the importance of spirit and lose their way. In a time like that, if we can convey the fact that “part of the history of Japan is the history of an era opened by an indomitable pioneering spirit and the power of our forefathers,” this will be a source of great strength for Japanese people.
I think that everyone who has devoted their effort to securing the registration of our industrial heritage as World Heritage have acted out of the desire to give hope to the people of the future, and by extension to the development of the Japanese economy.
Former General Manager, Nagasaki Shipyard and Machinery Works, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
Chairman, Fujisankei Group
Executive Managing Advisor, Fuji Television Network, Inc.
Executive Managing Advisor, Fuji Media Holdings, Inc.
Advisor, Federation of Japan Port and Airport Construction Association
(Ex. Chairman of Specialists Center of Port and Airport Engineering)
Mayor of Nagasaki City
Former Director of the Sano Tsunetami Memorial Museum (currently known as Sano Tsunetami and the Mietsu Naval Dock History Museum)
Director of NPO Association for Thinking about Satoyama
Director of National Congress of the Industrial Heritage
Honorary Chief Priest Toshinari Ueda
Former Mayor of Omuta City
Archaeologist and Heritage Conservation Specialist
A fellow of the Japan Federation of Engineering Societies
Team Member of the Industrial Project Team Office for the Promotion of World Heritage Listing under Cabinet Secretariat
Governor of Kagoshima Prefecture
Mayor of Hagi City
Mayor of Uki City, Kumamoto Prefecture
The Former Employee of Nippon Steel Corporation
An Associate Professor of the Faculty of Science and Engineering in Iwate University
Chairman of the Tourist Guide Association of Misumi West Port
President of Kuraya Narusawa Co., Ltd.
Chairman of Izunokuni City Tourism Association
Director and General Manager of Gunkanjima Concierge
Producer of the Gunkanjima Digital Museum
Owner at Tōge Chaya
Chairman: Mr. Hidenori Date
President: Mr. Masahiro Date
Proprietor, Houraikan Inn
Representative Director of Egawa Bunko non-profit incorporated foundation
The 42nd head of the Egawa Family
Democratic Party for the People (DPP) Representative for Nagasaki Prefecture
President of the NPO, Way to World Heritage Gunkanjima
Representative Director
MI Consulting Group
President of Watanabe Production Group and Honorary Chair of Watanabe Productions Co., Ltd.
Member of the House of Councillors
Governor
Kagoshima Prefecture
World Heritage Consultant
Director and Dean, The Kyushu-Asia Institute of Leadership
Representative Director, SUMIDA, Inc.
Journalist, founder of the Shimomura Mitsuko Ikikata Juku School
Representative, Rally Nippon
Chairman, Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution World Heritage Route Promotion Council Director, National Congress of Industrial Heritage
Representative Director, General Incorporated Foundation National Congress of Industrial Heritage (Advisor, Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Capital Markets Research Institute）
Mayor of Nagasaki City
Policy Director at Heritage Montreal
World Heritage Consultant
Executive Director of Kogakuin University
Heritage Architect and International Consultant
Head of Data Acquisition at The Glasgow School of Art’s School of Simulation and Visualisation
Head of Industrial Heritage, Historic Environment Scotland, Edinburgh
Scottish Ten Project Manager, Historic Environment Scotland, Edinburgh
Mayor of Izunokuni City, Shizuoka Prefecture
Pro-Provost and Chairman of Council of the Royal College of Art. Heritage advisor of Canal & River Trust for England and Wales.
Dean of Tokyo Rissho Junior College
Professor emeritus of Keio University
Mayor of Kitakyushu City
At the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee convened in Bonn, Germany, from June 28 to July 8, 2015, the decision was approved to inscribe the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution on the World Heritage list.
At a celebratory party held to mark the occasion, some of the primary promoters of the project spoke of their joy in achieving their goal and of the trials and tribulations to getting there.
Director and Managing Executive Officer, Hanshin Expressway Company Limited
Member, Board of Directors, National Congress of Industrial Heritage
Vice-Governor of Shizuoka Prefecture
Mayor of Hagi City
Chairman, Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd.
Mayor of Omuta City
Deputy Director-General, Lifelong Learning Policy Bureau, MEXT
Former Counsellor, Cabinet Secretariat
Mayor of Kamaishi City
Member, Board of Directors, National Congress of Industrial Heritage Counselor, Shimadzu Limited
Chairman of the Consortium for the World Heritage Inscription of Modern Industrial Heritage (Kyushu-Yamaguchi) and governor of Kagoshima Prefecture (as of 2015)