‘Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region’ Designated as World Heritage Site

In May, the international Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisory body to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that conducts preliminary inspections to determine whether a site should be inscribed on the World Heritage List, recommended the inclusion of the ‘Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region’, which had been nominated by the Japanese government, excluding Okinoshima Island and its surrounding reefs, on the World Heritage List. On July 9, the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, held in Krakow, Poland, overturned the advisory body’s recommendation and decided to inscribe all constituent assets on the World Heritage List as Cultural Heritage Sites. (Japanese)