Hashima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan

The representatives of 6 prefectures and 11 cities, including Yuichiro Ito, Governor of Kagoshima Prefecture, and Genjiro Kaneko, Governor of Nagasaki Prefecture, jointly submitted to the Agency for Cultural Affairs a proposal for addition of “the Modern Industrial Heritage Sites in Kyushu and Yamaguchi” to the Japan’s tentative candidate list for World Heritage nomination.
In August 2006, the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry decided to support the World Heritage designation proposal in an attempt to promote the utilization of the Meiji-Era industrial heritage, including Hashima (Gunkanjima), as tourism resources in the Kyushu and Yamaguchi region.
On September 26, 2008, the Agency for Cultural Affairs added the “Modern Industrial Heritage Sites in Kyushu and Yamaguchi” to the tentative lists.
It was concluded that the property possesses outstanding universal value; the property clearly attests the intensive introduction of Western technology, which served as the driving force for Japan’s rapid industrialization in a dramatically brief period and its own industrial modernisation processes.