PEOPLE
The Miike Area: How Coal Contributed to Japan's Modern Industrialization
Mayor of Omuta City
Born in 1943. After graduating from the Waseda University School of Political Science and Economics, First Department in March 1966, joined Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd. in April. In October 1989, was promoted director of the company’s Miike Office. In May 1991, was elected to his first term as a member of the Omuta City Council. Retired from Mitsui Mining & Smelting in September 2002, and from his position on the Omuta City Council in May 2003. Elected mayor in December of the same year. Has retained this position over three terms to the present day.
The Miike Area in the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution includes the following components: the Miyanohara Pit (Omuta City), the Manda Pit (Arao City and Omuta City), the Miike Coal Railway (Omuta City and Arao City), the Miike Port (Omuta City), and the Misumi West Port (Uki City).
Koga: The Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution are a testimonial to the process by which Japan became a modern nation. Japan was the first non-Western country to ride on the wave of the industrial revolution and was able to modernize in little more than 50 years. This World Heritage series encompasses 23 component sites in eight prefectures and 11 cities that together trace the stages of Japan’s exceptional and rapid industrial revolution.
The component sites in the Miike Area are testimony to a glorious history spanning the end of the Edo through the Meiji eras in which Japan secured foreign currencies by exporting coal, met domestic and foreign energy needs, supported modern industrialization, and later, after the Second World War, contributed to Japan’s economic recovery by meeting the country’s energy needs. The sites preserve intact the whole system of the coal industry, including the pits from which the coal was mined, the railway line used to transport the coal, and the ports from which the coal was exported. Omuta City boasts as well other important historical sites of Japan’s modern industrialization, such as the remains of the Mikawa Pit, the former Mitsui Minato Club, and the coal trains used to transport the coal to the ports for shipping.
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)