TOBUNKEN has participated in international conferences on heritage conservation, including sessions of the World Heritage Committee, since the 1990s following Japan’s official ratification of the World Heritage Convention, and continuously disseminated international information on conservation to domestic stakeholders.
Since FY 2017, the Center has organized the annual World Heritage Seminar, which aims to share and discuss the latest developments in World Heritage matters with local authorities and other relevant stakeholders involved in World Heritage-related activities.
PUBLICATION
1. World Heritage Seminar proceedings
- World Heritage Seminar, FY 2024: The Soft Edges of World Heritage – buffer zone and wider setting - (published in March 2025)
- World Heritage Seminar, FY 2023:
The Increasing Complexity of the Eyes Watching over World Heritage:
Operational Guidelines, Preliminary Assessments, and Impact Assessments (published in March 2024) - World Heritage Seminar, FY 2022:
Reevaluating "Landscape" as Cultural Heritage (published in March 2023) - World Heritage Seminar, FY 2021:
How Should We Describe "Seibi"? (Part 2) (published in March 2022) - World Heritage Seminar, FY 2020:
How Should We Describe Seibi? (Part 1) (published in March 2021) - World Heritage Seminar, FY 2019:
What is Heritage Impact Assessment? (published in March 2020) - World Heritage Seminar, FY 2018:
Strategic OUV Choice Theory (published in March 2019) - World Heritage Seminar, FY 2017:
Process of Evaluating Nominations and Roles of the Advisory Bodies for Inscription on the World Heritage List (published in March 2018)
2. Other reports related to studies on international affairs
- Revisiting the Venice Charter through a Comparative Study of Its English and French Versions (published by ICOMOS Japan in January 2025)
- Overseas Case Study on the Protection and Transmission of Contemporary Architecture (published in November 2023)
- Attributes -a way of understanding OUV- (published in March 2021)
- Research on Heritage Impact Assessment for World Cultural Heritage Properties in Japan (published in March 2019)
BUDGET
Government funding for the Institute's operational expenses