PEOPLE
Mayor of Izunokuni City, Shizuoka Prefecture

■ “Excursion Route Tracing the Footsteps of Hidetatsu Egawa”—Sale of Ticket Package for the Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces and the Egawa House
——Turning back to our discussion of the Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces… (Laughs) Now that the Guidance Center is open, do you have any specific new plans to promote tourism?
Actually, in addition to the reverberatory furnaces, we are planning a sightseeing route called the “Path to Contemplate Duke Tan’an.” The route will connect the Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces and the Egawa House—the Egawa family residence that was handed down for generations and has been named an important cultural property by the national government— with the goal of getting people to visit the Egawa House as well. The Egawa House has been maintained for a very long time by the Egawa-Bunko Foundation, and it is not just the buildings; they preserve and display an enormous number of historical documents that have been handed down in the Egawa family for close to 850 years.
The plan is to sell tickets for admission to the Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces and the Egawa House as a set. By doing so, we want people to extend their stay in Izunokuni; we would like all of the tourists to visit various historic sites and get to know more about Duke Hidetatsu and this area, and to know more about Japan’s proud history. That’s what I am thinking. The Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces are just one small piece of the accomplishments that Duke Hidetatsu left behind. I want people to visit the Egawa House and realize that for the first time.
In that sense, just like the component parts of the Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution, there are still many properties and historic sites related to Duke Hidetatsu. In the future, I would like to serialize and organize those sites. For the city of Izunokuni, I think that is our homework that we must absolutely complete.
——Are there any new plans for the Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces site itself?
It’s still in the conceptual stage, but I would definitely like to create a related facility like a “mini reverberatory furnace for children.” There are still sites around the Guidance Center that could be developed, and so I would like to use that to create a facility for hands-on learning where primary and secondary school students and university students as well can learn about ironmaking and manufacturing.
Fortunately, in Izunokuni we have the Kimura Foundry (headquartered in Shimizu-cho, Sunto-gun, Shizuoka Prefecture), which is a major company in the foundry industry, and they are providing technical collaboration on the restoration of a cannon based on blueprints that were found in Nirayama. For that reason, I am dreaming big and thinking that we might be able to once again receive assistance from the Kimura Foundry to build a new and appealing facility and create an educational space where children can actually experience manufacturing.
I think it would also be fun to have a workshop where people can make bread. Duke Hidetatsu was also making bread during that time. So if we also have a restaurant where visitors can enjoy “Hidetatsu Egawa’s handmade bread,” that would be even more enjoyable. (Laughs)
——My lack of study is showing, but I didn’t realize that the cannons that lay in the Odaiba gun batteries that protected the city of Edo were cast at the Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces. Today, Tokyo’s Odaiba area is one of Japan’s trendiest spots. If you add that as one of the “Hidetatsu Egawa serial historical properties,” you can get a lot more tourists from the younger generation or from overseas to learn about him. (Laughs)
That’s certainly true, and it’s one of my dreams. I appreciate everyone’s continued cooperation and will keep working steadily one step at a time.
——Thank you for speaking with me today and sharing these fun stories.
(Interviewer: Takeo Takashima)
Former Director of Nagasaki City World Heritage Office
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)