JAPANESE  ENGLISH

PEOPLE

2024.12.27
Vol.58

What is the value of World Heritage? - The viewpoint necessary to protect World Heritage sites is not to overlook what is essential.

Mr. Yoichi Tanaka

Former Director of Nagasaki City World Heritage Office

Mr. Yoichi Tanaka
PROFILE

Yoichi Tanaka

1985: Joined Nagasaki City Office

2010: Director, Nagasaki City World Heritage Office

2017: Nagasaki City Policy Director (In charge of World Heritage)

2019: Director of Commerce and Industry, Nagasaki City

2022: Retirement from Office

Current : Chairman of the Board of Directors, Nagasaki Ropeway and Aquarium

Churches first or industrial heritage sites first? ・・・・.

Kato: Mr. Tanaka was the director of the Nagasaki World Heritage Office for many years and was one of the people who helped us in the road to inscribe the Heritage of Meiji Industrial Revolution on the World Heritage List. I would like to thank you once again for your support.

Tanaka: It is an honour. It was registered in 2015, so it has been almost 10 years now. I think it has been a long and difficult road to get there.

Kato: In the Nagasaki area, there were eight candidate sites for inclusion in the heritage list from an early stage: the “No. 3 Dockyard,” the “Old Lumberyard,” the “Giant Cantilever Crane,” the “Senshokaku,” the “Kosuge Ship Repair Dock,” the “Takashima Coal Mine,” the “Hashima Coal Mine” and the “Old Glover House.” We are grateful for the efforts of then-Mayor Taue and all the people involved in Nagasaki. I think they overcame a difficult phase.

Tanaka: In the case of Nagasaki City, two World Heritage Sites emerged: the Nagasaki Churches and Christian Heritage Site (later renamed the Sites Related to Nagasaki and Amakusa Region’s Crypto-Christian) and Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution. However, due to the rule that two heritage sites cannot be registered at once, we faced the vexed question of which one to prioritize. Personally, those days left a lasting impression on me.

Kato: I am told the churches were already on the provisional list before our project was launched. So, at the beginning, the prefecture and the city council were unanimously opposed to the idea of proceeding with the registration of the industrial heritage site on the World Heritage List.

Tanaka: The unanimous opinion was that having two World Heritage sites in Nagasaki would be great. However, there was a growing circle of support among the citizens to register the churches. Then, the proposal to inscribe the industrial heritage site on the World Heritage List emerged, and there was some confusion, so I understand that the prefecture and the city expressed their intention to prioritize the church complex.

Kato: Even so, we felt that we must not stop making progress, and we were proceeding with the project on fragile ground, deciding what component parts of Nagasaki should be, despite the fact that Nagasaki Prefecture had asked us to wait. All of the component parts relating to Nagasaki's industrial heritage are located in the city of Nagasaki, so we thought that even if the prefecture denied us, there was hope if we could get the backing of the city of Nagasaki. If not, we would have to take further steps.

Tanaka: You mean getting Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ (MHI) agreement, right?

Kato: According to the new CMP (Consent Management Platform) concept, if we could get the agreement from the owner, we could register even if we could not get approval from the local administration. So, we repeatedly approached MHI and were able to set up a process to register directly with them and obtain their agreement. Do you remember that I contacted Mr. Tanaka at that time and asked you what you wanted to do?

Tanaka: I remember it well. I immediately contacted the mayor, who was on a business trip abroad. From the outset, Nagasaki City had no intention of not registering the industrial heritage sites as a World Heritage Site. Therefore, I understood that it was not a question of whether the churches or the industrial heritage sites emerged first, but rather, the city decided to give priority to the one that was more ready, which, as a result, came to the conclusion that the industrial heritage sites should be registered first.

Kato: Thanks to your support, the nomination of Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution was decided in 2013, and we were able to register them as World Heritage sites. However, Mr. Tanaka, then head of the Nagasaki World Heritage Office, must have had a hard time because you were caught between the Churches and the Industrial Heritages. You must have felt reckless and burnt out at times.

Tanaka: I'd be lying if I said it wasn't hard work. (Laughs) But it was my mission to coordinate, so I took it as my duty to do what we could do straightforwardly in line with the discussions at the time.

Kato: From your perspective, how did you approach the citizens?

Tanaka: We started by telling them what an industrial heritage site is. We tried to get them to understand the need to inscribe the property, which is fading day by day, on the World Heritage List at the earliest possible stage. It was not an easy task, but as a result, the people involved with the churches changed their minds and took a longer-term view of the World Heritage List, and their generosity has been a great blessing. From there, we were able to clarify our priorities: first, we would work hard to get the industrial heritage site inscribed on the World Heritage List, and then we would put all our efforts into getting the church complex inscribed on the World Heritage List.

It is also true that we were able to make use of our experience with the industrial heritage in the fold of the churches.

Kato: In 2018, the church complex was also inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Tanaka: Nagasaki is now widely known as a place blessed with two World Heritage Sites and 24 component parts. Above all, I was delighted to hear many comments from residents saying they were proud of Nagasaki. I am personally grateful for the unique experience of being involved in a historical event.

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Vol.58
What is the value of World Heritage? - The viewpoint necessary to protect World Heritage sites is not to overlook what is essential.

Former Director of Nagasaki City World Heritage Office

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