“International Symposium on the Conservation of Modernization Heritage and Its Promotional Planning” in Taiwan
The Modern Cultural Heritage Section has been interacting with Taiwanese officials and researchers working on cultural properties since FY 2017 so as to share mutual experiences and issues on conservation and utilization of modern cultural heritage for their smooth resolution through research.
As part of this activity, we participated in the “International Symposium on the Conservation of Modernization Heritage and Its Promotional Planning” held under the auspices of the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Culture and Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan on August 17th, 2018. At the symposium, Japanese experts representing the industrial heritage, railway and machinery areas delivered lectures. Mr. Kitagawa, the Head of the Modern Cultural Heritage Section at Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, lectured on the administration of cultural properties related to modernization heritage. The symposium attracted a large Taiwanese audience, including administrative officials, owners of cultural properties, university researchers, and citizen groups, resulting in engaging discussions ranging from the principles of conservation and utilization of modernization heritage to their approaches.
In conjunction with the symposium, we discussed with Taiwanese researchers how hydraulic structures, factories, and railway facilities constructed during the period of Japanese rule have been conserved and utilized, along with various approaches and issues. Among them was a very interesting case in which a motorcycle manufacturer who had developed an electric-assist railbike made use of the dead track of a now-defunct railway. The railway is now protected as a cultural property for the operation of the facility.
We also visited Director-general Gwo-Long Shy and other officials at the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Culture in Taichung. There, we exchanged ideas on Japanese and Taiwanese histories, and on concepts concerning systems for the protection of cultural properties associated with modernization heritage, as well as their conservation and utilization.