Photo/Illutration Videotaped testimonies by former residents of Hashima island, also known as "Battleship Island," are available at the Industrial Heritage Information Center in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward. (Provided by the Industrial Heritage Information Center)

A UNESCO body has voiced strong concerns about the way Japan is exhibiting a World Heritage site.

The government should act swiftly and take corrective measures in response to the criticism, which could damage Japan’s credibility with the international community.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has taken exception to a Japanese exhibit on the Hashima Coal Mine on a tiny island off the coast of Nagasaki city. The committee passed a unanimous resolution on July 22 saying it “strongly regrets” the inadequate explanation about workers brought from the Korean Peninsula to work at the mine.

The coal mine, located on what is known as “Battleship Island,” is part of the “Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution,” which won World Heritage status in 2015.

Properties of the “Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution,” including iron and steelmaking, shipbuilding and coal mining facilities, are located in eight prefectures, mainly in the southernmost main island of Kyushu.

The administration of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promoted the designation of these properties as a World Heritage site, claiming they are valuable relics from the era when Japan started modernization. But South Korea opposed adding them to the list, citing Japan’s wartime mobilization of Korean workers.

During a committee session prior to the designation, the Japanese government acknowledged that “there were a large number of Koreans and others who were brought against their will and forced to work under harsh conditions” at the coal mine and pledged to implement appropriate measures to remember these “victims.”

That means Japan promised to the world sincere efforts to depict the history of Japan’s modernization in its entirety, not just facts about Japan’s development but also negative aspects of the era.

After the Industrial Heritage Information Center opened last year on state-owned land in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward to display the various components of the World Heritage site, however, many researchers and experts have argued that the exhibit is slanted.

The displays about the Hashima Coal Mine at the center offer interviews with people involved who claim the workers were not forcibly brought there.

Concerning the way the site was exhibited, the UNESCO committee has concluded that the center fails to offer diverse testimonies that allow visitors to understand the dark sides and that the explanation about the victims is insufficient.

That Japan drafted workers from the Korean Peninsula to work at various facilities and sites during its colonial rule of the peninsula is a historical fact that the Japanese government acknowledges.

There are materials and testimonies showing such Korean laborers were forced to work under harsh conditions at some of the designated sites.

Tokyo cannot dismiss the criticism that it has broken its promise if it turns a blind eye to these facts and stresses only the glorious facts concerning these sites.

At a July 21 news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said, “We have always accepted in a very serious manner the resolutions and recommendations issued by the World Heritage Committee.”

If so, why did the Japanese government not try to refute the argument for the resolution when it was passed at the committee session, which Japan attended as an observer?

The resolution calls on Japan to report on its responses by Dec. 1 next year.

What Japan needs to do is to make changes in the exhibition at the center in line with UNESCO’s advice. It should seek opinions from a wide range of experts to ensure that the center provides more balanced information about the site including facts concerning the victims.

Many such historical sites are linked to both the bright and dark sides of history. They can be World Heritage assets only if all the related historical facts are acknowledged and exhibited.

The Japanese government should humbly accept the committee’s resolution and keep its promise to UNESCO.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 27

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