PEOPLE
Former Director of Nagasaki City World Heritage Office
Kato: I also believe that the major role of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Heritage is to link hope to the future. For this reason, we need to think carefully about conservation issues. In particular, the issue at hand is how to protect the Hashima Coal Mine. Hashima Island is the starting point of how Japan laid the foundations for its industrialisation. No other heritage site in Japan can boast such a scale. It is one of the few heritage sites attracting worldwide attention and holds a symbolic meaning for Japan. In any case, I would like to focus on further deepening its value than when it was registered as a World Heritage Site. ......
Tanaka: There is also the question of whether the high-impact silhouette known as “Gunkanjima” can survive due to the severe deterioration of Building No. 30. Some experts have suggested that the silhouette of Hashima Island will disappear in the near future.
Kato: Regarding the silhouette, we are proposing to remove the condition that if the existing silhouette cannot be preserved, it will be removed from the World Heritage property. The disappearance of Hashima Island means the disappearance of the industrial heritage of Meiji Japan itself, which is a serious problem. If we do not stick to the current conservation plan and deal with the issue flexibly, we may end up strangling ourselves. So I would very much like Nagasaki City to consider this issue.
Tanaka: That is right. In Nagasaki City, we originally thought that the Meiji period seawall and production facilities, plus the symbolic silhouette of Hashima Island, were the three key elements, but the silhouette is only made up of buildings from the Taisho period onwards.
Kato: More specifically, it is an element that was added later by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the city to add value to the building as a cultural asset, but I am concerned that the current idea is that the silhouette needs to be reinforced in various areas in order to protect it.
Tanaka: It’s clear that it would be easier to let go of the idea of protecting the silhouette, so I’m sure the City Council will be discussing this in the future.
Kato: Nagasaki is a tourist city, so if the silhouette of Gunkanjima is popular with tourists, it may be natural to stick to it. However, we tend to think that because a spot is popular with tourists, it is valuable, which, in our view, is a complete reversal of the original idea.
Tanaka: What I have learnt through the ‘Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Heritage’ and ‘Sites Related to Nagasaki and Amakusa Region’s Crypto-Christians’ was the viewpoint of looking at the essential question of “What is truly valuable?” If we overlook the essentials, we will go astray and will not be able to represent universal value.
Kato: World Heritage Sites are not leisure lands, nor are they places where only honour is taken. There is also great meaning in tracing the hardships of our ancestors, highlighting the dark side of historical facts, and learning lessons from them. UNESCO's point of contention is whether or not the site contains important things that should not be forgotten as humanity evolves, which is why it is recognised as worth bequeathing.
Tanaka: It is the mission of those involved in World Heritage to widely convey the message that it is important to look at World Heritage sites from the viewpoint of “what is the meaning of these component parts?”
Kato: We will continue to protect the eight properties that the people of Nagasaki went to great lengths to have inscribed on the World Heritage List, and we will continue to do so with wisdom and input from a wide range of people. I would also like to ask for your continued support.
Tanaka: Although I am no longer the head of the Nagasaki World Heritage Office, I would like to make use of my experience as the former head of the Office and do what I can, such as training younger generations.
Kato: That is very encouraging. Thank you very much for your time today.
Composition & Text by Akane Maruyama
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)