Hiraizumi Designated as World Heritage Site

On May 7, 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 sites should be inscribed on the World Heritage List, recommended that Hiraizumi (Hiraizumi Town, Iwate Prefecture), resubmitted by Japan, be inscribed as a World Heritage Site. In response, on June 26, the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee decided to inscribe Hiraizumi on the World Heritage List as a Cultural Heritage Site. ICOMOS had deferred the examination of the nomination of Hiraizumi in 2008 and the World Heritage Committee had also instructed a recommendation be made, leading to its registration being postponed. However, the Japanese government had resubmitted the nomination, clarifying that it represents the concept of Pure Land Buddhism. Meanwhile, concerning the buildings, including the main building of the National Museum of Western Art, designed by architect Le Corbusier that Japan had jointly nominated with France and others, ICOMOS recommended ‘non-inscription’, and their registration as a World Heritage Site was postponed. (Japanese)