PEOPLE
Advisor, Federation of Japan Port and Airport Construction Association
(Ex. Chairman of Specialists Center of Port and Airport Engineering)
Is it possible to change the framework of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act?
Hayashida: In this situation, your request to me was for the Port of Miike to support the Ports and Harbors Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism as an organisation, but at that stage, I had decided that it would be difficult to cooperate. I also did not want the Port of Miike to be frozen even in the unlikely event that it was to happen. I think I told you that.
Kato: I reported to Mr. Hayashida, then Director-General of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, that we would take steps to change the framework of the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties in Japan while the Agency was forced to “review the operation related to the registration of industrial heritage on the World Heritage List,” but he did not understand. I remember feeling gloomy that this was the end of the road. It was the most significant pinch point on the road to World Heritage registration.
Hayashida: When you came to me several times to try to persuade me, and I was almost carried away by your enthusiasm, but I could not give you a good reply. This overlaps with what I said earlier; the bottleneck and significant frustration for me was that in order to provide you with a good answer, I had to make up my mind, including the possibility that the Port of Miike might no longer be usable. On the flip side, I felt lost in my mind, if only I had certainty that the framework could be changed.
Kato: I thought that my explanation was not good enough. Therefore, I consulted Masafumi Yasutomi, then administrative vice-minister, who was a close friend of yours from Nagasaki. Soon after, Mr Yasutomi contacted me and told me to come immediately to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). When I hurried to visit, you were also there, and Mr Yasutomi informed me that “Mr. Hayashida had understood.”
That was the fork in the road of fate. If you had not taken the initiative, we would not have been able to get the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's Ports and Harbours Bureau to write a document stating that the “site could be preserved under the Ports and Harbours Law system.” Without that statement, we probably would not have been able to move the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and our dream of inscription on the World Heritage List would not have come true.
Hayashida: I was defeated by the power of you (laughs). However, I did not take a sink-or-swim gamble. I conducted my own research and found, for example, that even if the Port of Miike had been damaged, it did not need to be restored using exactly the same materials as originally used. I came to understand that if that was the case, then we could continue to operate, and I gave the go-ahead to the Ports and Harbours Bureau officials.
Kato: But I don't think we had reached that level of discussion at the time of regulatory reform. Even though we had yet to reach that point, you made the decision. I was deeply grateful to you for taking the risk.
Hayashida: It was probably only after I gave the GO sign that I understood how the framework of the Cultural Heritage Protection Act was to be changed. In any case, the attitude of the MLIT was not to fight with the Agency for Cultural Affairs. We decided that since this was the Agency for Cultural Affairs and this was the Cabinet Secretariat, we just had to give instructions promptly.
Kato: So that was a very heavy responsibility for you. In the course of my career, I learned that luck plays a big part in the way things work. In this case, luck means being blessed with human connections. It is a miracle that I happened to meet someone who was in a position to make things move, and that they finally understood me, even though there were further twists and turns.
Senior Researcher, Industrial Heritage Information Centre
Honorary Advisor, Nippon Mining Co., Ltd.
The Ambassador of Supporting Kamaishi Hometown
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)