Ogasawara Islands and Hiraizumi -designated as World Heritage sites at the same time
Ogasawara Islands in Ogasawara village in Tokyo area (http://www.ogasawaramura.com/en/ )was designated as a World Natural Heritage site on 24th and Hiraizumi in Iwate Pref. in Tohoku Region(http://hiraizumi.or.jp/en/index.html) was designated as a World Cultural Heritage site on 25th (in Japan on 26th due to the time difference) by the 35th WHC(World Heritage Committee of UNESCO) held in Paris France.
Ogasawara Islands
Hiraizumi
The reasons of Ogasawara’s designation is that area is home to various unique species of flora and fauna and the constant efforts to preserve the indiginous species by the people there and NGOs have been recognized. The mayor of the village , Kazuo Morishita says ,”We ,the villagers will keep on exerting necessary efforts to preserve our nature sticking together . ”
Ogasawara Islands are located 1000 km south from Tokyo metropolitan area with about 30 islands including Iwo island which became a hard-fought field in WW2(that island is excluded from the designated site). As the archipelago has never been connected to a continent, it has developed unique species systems and called “Galapagos of the Orient” .
The villagers cried in joy at the new of designation and hosted the Henkansai(/返還祭, the festival of handover) on 25th, which commemorates the handover of the islands from US to Japan in 1968. The vice mayor of the village composed “Ogasawara Sekaiisan Ondo”(/小笠原世界遺産音頭, Ogasawara world heritage site memorial music) and formed “World Heritage Sisters” consisting of female villagers in their 50~80s. the group danced that special music.
And Hiraizumi town, located in southwestern part of Iwate, is an historical area being home to a lot of old buildings ,such as Chuson-ji temple and Moutsu-ji temple was ruled by many clans through history. The town especially enjoyed high-brow cultures developed by the Ohshu Fujiwara family in the 11th century. The area once was recommended as a world culture heritage site in 2008 but that application was shelved due to the area’s insufficient rationale or proof of the historical significance for human kind.
Iwate Governor, Takuta Tasso gave a speech in joy emphasizing the town has been a center of rebuilding after the devastations of a lot of wars through history and that this time the area is a symbol of hope of rebuilding of Tohoku which is currently suffering from the aftermath of the huge earthquake and tsunami disaster in March. And the town mayor of Hiraizumi, Masayoshi Sugawara says in bliss, “For the damaged areas of the earthquake disaster, the news of the designation of Hiraizumi is a sensational hope of rebuilding. I hope this will be helpful for the rebuilding efforts and activities.”
the priests of Chuson-ji, Motsu-ji and Hiraizumi town staff celebrating the designation
Loading...
