＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
・日本の世界文化遺産に対する韓国政府のクレームは、反日主義による政治問題化
<Added 2022/2/1> South Korea has once again lodged a complaint regarding the nomination of “Sado Island’s Gold Mine” for World Cultural Heritage status.
This is exactly the same pattern as the demand to revoke the World Cultural Heritage designation of Hashima Island (Battleship Island), and is another example of persistent anti-Japanese propaganda by South Korea.
Prime Minister Kishida and Foreign Minister Hayashi should maintain a firm stance against South Korea’s unreasonable complaints.
1. South Korea’s complaints regarding Japan’s World Cultural Heritage sites
Speaking of World Heritage Sites, Japan currently has four natural heritage sites and 19 cultural heritage sites. Furthermore, influenced by the quiz and certification boom, there’s even a “World Heritage Certification Exam,” indicating a high level of public interest.
However, in June 2020, the South Korean government sent a letter to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) requesting the “revocation of the World Cultural Heritage designation” of the “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution,” which comprises 23 facilities in eight prefectures including Nagasaki. This is an attempt to politicize the issue.
This appears to be South Korea’s persistent anti-Japanese propaganda, linking the “so-called forced labor issue” to cultural heritage sites such as the underwater coal mine “Hashima” (commonly known as “Battleship Island”), and it’s becoming increasingly tiresome.
2. What is a World Heritage Site?
A “World Heritage Site” is a cultural property, landscape, or natural site possessing “outstanding universal value” that should be shared by humanity, registered on the “World Heritage List” based on the “Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage” (World Heritage Convention), adopted at the 1972 UNESCO General Conference.
China has been actively pursuing “UNESCO diplomacy,” including placing a Chinese diplomat in the position of Deputy Secretary-General, the second-highest position under France’s Director-General Audrey Azoulay, who took office in November 2017.
Perhaps due to this influence, recent UNESCO World Heritage registrations have shown a pro-China stance. The decision to register the “Nanjing Massacre Documents,” which China had applied for as part of the Memory of the World, has been criticized as a political bias.
I believe it is inappropriate to introduce “political elements” or “political issues” into the context of World Heritage.
After the United States withdrew from UNESCO in January 2019, Japan became the largest contributor to UNESCO, but what is the situation now? I suspect China is showing interest in increasing its contributions to UNESCO in order to gain an advantage over the United States.
The current UNESCO has many problems, even regarding “World Natural Heritage Sites.” If Japan’s legitimate claims are not recognized, then perhaps Japan should withdraw from UNESCO, just like the United States.
The following are some of the types of World Heritage Sites:
(1) Cultural Heritage
“Monuments, groups of buildings, and archaeological sites that possess outstanding universal value from a historical, artistic, or scientific perspective.”
(2) Natural Heritage
“A distinctive natural area consisting of inanimate objects or biological products or groups of products that possess outstanding universal value from an aesthetic or scientific perspective.”
“A natural area clearly defined as a habitat or native site for geological or topographical formations and threatened animal or plant species, that possesses outstanding universal value from a scientific, conservation, or landscape perspective.”
(3) Mixed Heritage
“Possessing outstanding universal value in both cultural and natural aspects.”
(4) Heritage in Danger
“Properties that are becoming difficult to preserve for future generations, or for which there is a strong concern.”
However, this is not a classification based on content.
(5) Transnational Assets
“World Heritage sites spanning multiple countries.”
(6) Negative World Heritage
“Sites that preserve events that should never be repeated in human history, such as war, the slave trade, racial discrimination, and cultural cleansing.”
3. Japan’s World Heritage Sites
