World Heritage Seminar: “Expansion of ‘Heritage’ beyond Boundaries”
Since 2018, the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation (JCICC) has been hosting the annual World Heritage Seminar, primarily for staff of administrative institutions responsible for World Heritage sites, to share and disseminate the latest information and discussions. In Fiscal Year 2025, we revisited the core meaning of “heritage” that we aim to safeguard through our daily work, under the theme “Expansion of ‘Heritage’ Beyond Boundaries: Bridging People’s Lives, Beliefs, and Circumstances.” A total of 111 participants from all over Japan attended the in-person meeting held on December 22 at our premises.
After Dr. SUZUKI Chihei (Agency for Cultural Affairs) presented his report titled “Trends in World Heritage,” summarizing the discussions and decisions of the 47th World Heritage Committee held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris last July, Mr. KANAI Ken, Head of the Resource and Systems Research Section at the JCICC, opened the seminar by explaining its objectives. In the first half of the meeting, two lectures and two case studies were presented.
For the lectures, Dr. ITO Fumihiko (Mie Prefectural Saiku Historical Museum) delivered a talk titled “How to Understand ‘Heritage’ in the Context of Complex Cultural Heritage,” focusing on ‘route’ heritage, which encompasses diverse heritage values such as tangible and intangible properties, landscapes, and archaeological sites. Following this, Dr. MATSUURA Kazunosuke (JCICC) presented comparative examples from leading international cases, drawing on his expertise in archaeological protection in relationship with landscape, in a lecture titled “The World Heritage Site ‘Archaeological Area of Agrigento’ and the Archaeological Park System in Sicily.”
For the case studies, concrete efforts in value assessment and conservation were introduced. Mr. EBESU Hikaru (Ehime University) presented the “Shikoku Pilgrimage,” a World Heritage candidate involving cooperative initiatives among the four prefectures of Shikoku Island. Ms. TSUCHIYA Mizuho (Osaka Prefectural Education Agency) then introduced the World Heritage Site “Mozu–Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan,” highlighting its status as an active imperial mausoleum and its growing popularity as a pilgrimage destination among recent Kofun enthusiasts.
In the second half of the meeting, a panel discussion was held with all five presenters. Together with questions from the audience, we engaged in a productive debate on topics such as the essential sources of heritage value, ways to safeguard and enhance that value, and the meaning of “heritage” within the World Heritage framework.
We are currently compiling the contents of the lectures, case studies, and panel discussions into a progress report, which will be published by March of this year. Progress reports from past World Heritage Seminars have also been published, and several of them are available in downloadable PDF format on our website. We encourage you to take a look.