World Heritage Sites in Japan

Japan accepted the UNESCO World Heritage Convention on 30 June 1992. As of July 2016, twenty properties have been inscribed on the World Heritage List: sixteen cultural sites and four natural sites. A further eight sites and one site extension have been submitted for future inscription and are currently on the Tentative List as of 2014.

The Tentative List consists of sites previously nominated, but not yet inscribed.

In January 2012 the Japanese Government requested the inscription of the tentative sites of Kamakura in 2013. The request was considered by the World Heritage Committee at its 37th session in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in September, 2013. ICOMOS recommended not inscribing the Kamakura site, stating that the historical aspects of the site had largely been supplanted by the modern city that grew up around it and thus the site lacked the integrity necessary to be considered. The request for World Heritage status for Kamakura was duly withdrawn by Japan.

In 2016 Japan Cultural Affairs Agency nominated Churches and Christian Sites in Nagasaki, but decided to withdraw after UNESCO advisory panel, ICOMOS asked Japan to review its nomination citing failure to explain their overall value. Churches and Christian Sites in Nagasaki will be resubmitted again for the year 2018. The agency also announced to nominate Okinoshima Island and Related Sites in Munakata Region for the year 2017.

The Japanese Government also plans to propose Amami and Ryūkyū Islands (Yanbaru) as a joint fifth Natural Site and a study panel is to be formed to consider a sixth candidate site.

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Wikipedia