ID :
21484
Fri, 09/26/2008 - 21:02
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/21484
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Japan picks 5 more candidate World Cultural Heritage sites+
TOKYO, Sept. 26 Kyodo - The Japanese government has picked five more places as candidates for cultural heritage sites to be registered on the World Heritage list by UNESCO, bringing
the number of such candidates to 13, the Cultural Affairs Agency said Friday.
Among the five is Niigata Prefecture's Sado Island in the Sea of Japan that is
known for having had one of the world's largest gold and silver mines during
the Edo period in the 17th to 19th centuries.
The four others include a group of historic monuments in Hokkaido and the
northern Tohoku region in the prehistoric Jomon period which includes the
Sannai Maruyama settlement site in Aomori Prefecture, and the Mozu-Furuichi
group of mausoleums in Osaka Prefecture, which includes one of the world's
largest keyhole-shaped tomb mounds.
The remaining two are a group of industrial modernization sites in Kyushu and
Yamaguchi Prefecture, and Okinoshima Island in Fukuoka Prefecture, which served
as a key transit point for trade between Japan and the Chinese continent in the
4th to 10th centuries.
The five candidates were picked out of the 32 places recommended by local
governments across the country, agency officials said.
The culture agency said it has put some conditions on those candidate sites to
improve their chances to be registered as World Heritage sites.
The officials said the agency has called for Sado Island to be united with the
Iwami silver mine in Shimane Prefecture, which has already been listed as a
World Cultural Heritage site.
It also asked that more historic ruins in other parts of eastern Japan be added
to the group of monuments in Hokkaido and the Tohoku region and urged
municipalities in and around the Mozu-Furuichi group of mausoleums to improve
its conservation and management system.
The officials said the agency placed those conditions after the UNESCO World
Heritage Committee in July put off registration of the landscape around the
ancient town of Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture, in northeastern Japan, citing a
lack of credentials for a World Heritage site.
The agency plans to add four of the five candidate sites, excluding the
Mozu-Furuichi group of mausoleums, to its provisional list of recommendations
for registration by the end of the year, the officials said.
The Japanese government has already shortlisted eight candidate sites for
registration by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Among the eight are Hiraizumi and the Tomioka Silk Mill, which symbolizes
Japan's industrial modernization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Currently, Japan has 11 sites registered as World Cultural Heritage sites and
three as World Natural Heritage sites.
Among the 11 cultural sites are Buddhist monuments in the Horyuji Temple area
in Nara Prefecture and the atomic bomb dome in Hiroshima.
The three natural sites are Yaku Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, the Shirakami
mountains in the Tohoku region and Hokkaido's Shiretoko Peninsula.
==Kyodo
the number of such candidates to 13, the Cultural Affairs Agency said Friday.
Among the five is Niigata Prefecture's Sado Island in the Sea of Japan that is
known for having had one of the world's largest gold and silver mines during
the Edo period in the 17th to 19th centuries.
The four others include a group of historic monuments in Hokkaido and the
northern Tohoku region in the prehistoric Jomon period which includes the
Sannai Maruyama settlement site in Aomori Prefecture, and the Mozu-Furuichi
group of mausoleums in Osaka Prefecture, which includes one of the world's
largest keyhole-shaped tomb mounds.
The remaining two are a group of industrial modernization sites in Kyushu and
Yamaguchi Prefecture, and Okinoshima Island in Fukuoka Prefecture, which served
as a key transit point for trade between Japan and the Chinese continent in the
4th to 10th centuries.
The five candidates were picked out of the 32 places recommended by local
governments across the country, agency officials said.
The culture agency said it has put some conditions on those candidate sites to
improve their chances to be registered as World Heritage sites.
The officials said the agency has called for Sado Island to be united with the
Iwami silver mine in Shimane Prefecture, which has already been listed as a
World Cultural Heritage site.
It also asked that more historic ruins in other parts of eastern Japan be added
to the group of monuments in Hokkaido and the Tohoku region and urged
municipalities in and around the Mozu-Furuichi group of mausoleums to improve
its conservation and management system.
The officials said the agency placed those conditions after the UNESCO World
Heritage Committee in July put off registration of the landscape around the
ancient town of Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture, in northeastern Japan, citing a
lack of credentials for a World Heritage site.
The agency plans to add four of the five candidate sites, excluding the
Mozu-Furuichi group of mausoleums, to its provisional list of recommendations
for registration by the end of the year, the officials said.
The Japanese government has already shortlisted eight candidate sites for
registration by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Among the eight are Hiraizumi and the Tomioka Silk Mill, which symbolizes
Japan's industrial modernization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Currently, Japan has 11 sites registered as World Cultural Heritage sites and
three as World Natural Heritage sites.
Among the 11 cultural sites are Buddhist monuments in the Horyuji Temple area
in Nara Prefecture and the atomic bomb dome in Hiroshima.
The three natural sites are Yaku Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, the Shirakami
mountains in the Tohoku region and Hokkaido's Shiretoko Peninsula.
==Kyodo
