Japan to nominate 2 sites for World Heritage

The Japanese government will nominate 2 places in Japan as candidates to become UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Relevant government offices agreed on Monday to nominate the Hiraizumi cultural site, made up of Chuson-ji Temple in Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, and ruins in the surrounding area.

The cultural landscape, supposedly a recreation of the Buddhist paradise, was built in the early 12th century by the Oshu-Fujiwara family, who ruled the region.

The other site selected is the Ogasawara islands, which lie about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo in the Pacific. The islands are rich in animals and plants found nowhere else in the world.

Among them are the bird species Columba janthina nitens, and a type of blue butterfly called lycaenidae. The islands have been dubbed the Galapagos of the East.

The government will file a nomination document with the World Heritage Committee by February 1st and a team of experts will begin an on-the-spot survey of the 2 sites by around this summer.

The UNESCO committee will then decide whether to add these 2 sites to the 14 Japanese sites already registered as World Heritage sites.