Japan to Exclude Core Modern Heritage Area from 'Sado Mine' World Heritage Site Zone

The Japanese government appears to accept UNESCO advisory body's recommendation to exclude areas mostly containing heritage from the Edo period onwards within the Sado Mine World Heritage site in Niigata Prefecture.

Sado Mine Kitazawa District
[Photo by Northeast Asian History Foundation]

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According to Kyodo News on the 13th, a representative from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs stated at the ruling Liberal Democratic Party meeting that they plan to accept the adjustment of the heritage site boundaries as requested by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a UNESCO advisory body.

ICOMOS reviewed the Sado Mine on the 6th and recommended a "deferral," advising an adjustment of the heritage site boundaries. They also requested measures such as establishing an explanatory and exhibition strategy covering the entire history comprehensively, and banning commercial mining within the heritage site and buffer zones.

ICOMOS decides on one of four recommendations for World Heritage nominations: inscription, deferral, rejection, or non-inscription. A deferral requests additional submissions for incomplete parts, and if supplemented, the site is highly likely to be inscribed as a World Heritage site in the current or following year.

According to the examination results released by the Japanese government, ICOMOS recommended excluding the Kitazawa district of the Sado Mine from the heritage boundaries and designating it as a buffer zone, stating, "Since it does not reflect Edo period mining technology and socio-cultural systems, excluding this area will satisfy integrity." The Kitazawa district includes the Kitazawa Floating Selection Plant (Kitazawa Fuyusen Koj?), a modern heritage symbolizing the Sado Mine and considered a representative landscape.

When promoting the inscription of the Sado Mine as a World Heritage site, the Japanese government limited the target period to the 16th century through the mid-19th century, including the Edo period. It appears that ICOMOS recommended excluding the Kitazawa district, where facilities mainly built after the Edo period form the core, from the heritage site boundaries.

The Korean government has emphasized that "the entire history must be faithfully reflected in the Sado Mine" even before the ICOMOS review results were made public. Korea is reportedly set to decide whether to support the inscription at the World Heritage Committee meeting next month in New Delhi, India, based on Japan's measures related to the "entire history."

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