PEOPLE
The History of Iron that Began in Kagoshima has Dramatically Advanced Japan's Modernization～I Want to Pass on the Vitality of the People of Satsuma to the Younger Generations Whom Will Live in the Future～
Governor of Kagoshima Prefecture
October 1965: Born in Kagoghima City, Kagoshima Prefecture
March 1988: Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law
April 1988: Joined Ministry of International Trade and Industry
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Chief of Hitoyoshi Tax Office, Kumamoto Regional Taxation Bureau
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First Secretary, Embassy of Japan in Italy
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Deputy Director-General, Minister's Secretariat, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
June 2018: Director-General of the Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry
December 2019: Retired from Director-General, Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry
July 2020: Appointed Governor of Kagoshima Prefecture
To be Proud of the History of Iron in Kagoshima Prefecture
Kato Thank you very much for your time today. Kagoshima Prefecture is home to three of the component parts of the "Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution": the former Shuseikan (former Shuseikan reverberatory furnace, former Shuseikan machine factory, and former Kagoshima spinning mill and foreign engineers' residence), the Terayama Charcoal Kiln, and the Sekiyoshi Sluice Gate of Yoshino Leat. I was looking forward to hearing from Governor Shiota, who is also the Chairman of the World Heritage Council of "Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution.”
Shiota It is my pleasure.
Kato You were appointed Governor of Kagoshima Prefecture in 2020. Nonetheless, I remember the first time I met you was before the "Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution" were registered as a World Heritage Site in 2015, when you served as Director of the Iron and Steel Division at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Shiota Yes, that was in 2011. One day, Ms. Kato stormed into my office and spoke to me passionately in regard to industrial heritage. Later, she came to see me again after reading my column on Kagoshima and iron in the Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun (Daily Sangyo News), and I believe that our conversation led to us establishing the connection we have today.
Kato I was very impressed by your column, which was very knowledgeable and persuasive in regards to iron, and I was eager to meet you again. In the course of our meeting in person and our long conversation, I realized once again that the history of Kagoshima Prefecture and iron is indeed very deep.
The Shuseikan project was born by Shimazu Nariakira, the feudal lord of the Satsuma clan, and the stage for the project was the former Shuseikan, where many factories, including a reverberatory furnace, were built by cultivating the bamboo forest in present-day Iso, the town of Yoshino-cho. The Shuseikan built by Nariakira was destroyed by fire during the Satsuma-British War, but the Satsuma clan, seeing the overwhelming military power of the West, decided to actively adopt Western technology, and it was rebuilt by Shimazu Tadayoshi in 1865. This background also gives us a sense of the spirit of wanting to support Japan.
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)