Southwest Japan islands set to become World Heritage site

Its nice to hear positive news for a change, I wish this was the case every day.

These UNESCO listings are hardly newsworthy anymore. It’s like japan is collecting them like Pokémon

There will be more foreigners than the Japanese visiting those places. It won't be the same.

There will be more foreigners than the Japanese visiting those places. It won't be the same.

And pray tell, what difference does it make in the middle of the jungle what country people come from?

Toooo many world Heritage sites and NO ONE really cares.

I got one near where I live, and hardly ever anyone there, millions of JPY pumped into the site yearly and no one really cares.

From Waddo's link

Katoku is the last and only beach-village in all of Amami-Oshima which doesn’t have a seawall, a harbour, or a concreted river-mouth. It could very well be the last bay in Japan that can boats these attributes

That's the "precious natural environment" we are talking about.

Okinawa belongs to the Ryukyuan people. Not Japan! I’m all for Ryukyu independence.

Yakushima is the best place in the world!

Tanegashima rocks!

Whatever the government's motivations, the result is to be lauded. There is some kind of mystical atmosphere that needs protecting, if at all possible.

Can we just skip all the intermediate steps and just fast forward to making the whole country a special UNESCO site?

Okinawa belongs to the Ryukyuan people. Not Japan! I’m all for Ryukyu independence.

Pray tell, how are you going to differentiate between the "Ryukyuan" people, and "Japanese" on Okinawa?

Only someone who really has no idea about reality would make a statement like yours here!

Tom DoleyToday  09:43 am JST

Okinawa belongs to the Ryukyuan people. Not Japan! I’m all for Ryukyu independence.

The Ryukyuan people are Japanese.

The Ryukyuan people are Japanese.

Yeah, and Tibetans are Chinese.

Despite the fact that the number of people seeking independence in Okinawa is very small, there are foreigners shouting "I support independence.

I am especially dismayed to see Chinese people who are trying to seize the Senkaku Islands, which belong to Okinawa, writing "I support Okinawa's independence" in the comments section of YouTube.

https://www.theanimalfiles.com/mammals/rabbits_hares_pikas/amami_rabbit.html

It is a beautiful rabbit and deserves to be protected.

There are currently 23 World Heritage sites in Japan including cultural properties.

The other 1121 Unesco sites can be viewed below by kind and numbers.

Properties

36

Transboundary

2

Delisted

53

In Danger

869

Cultural

213

Natural

39

Mixed

167

So, if those that think Japan has way too many sites, please investigate before posting. There are many more all over the world. Japan is just a drop in the bucket.

This is a good link for you to study. We find it fascinating.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/

The government revised the designated area by including a forest within a former U.S. military site in northern Okinawa that was returned to Japan in December 2016 and reinforced measures against invasive species before resubmitting the proposal in February 2019.

The IUCN, a UN advisory panel, included part of northern Okinawa, locally known as Yanbaru, on its list of its world heritage recommendation sites. That is one half of the U.S. Marines' Northern Training Area where vestiges of military training still abound. The other half remains a Marine facility, renamed as Jungle Warfare Training Center, where there are six VTOL facilities for Ospreys and other VTOL jet fighters.

I wonder how the U.S. military would coordinate this fact with the conservation of precious nature and endangered rare species in Yanbaru , for whom there is no border line between military and non-military areas.  

I guess, rich biodiversity won’t be sufficient. Of course, also a big contribution and holding a certain sports event is unoutspoken part of the deal. lol

t’s good to see a government and a people who value their environment and culture and are motivated to preserve it.

Good Lord! Are you having a laugh?! Dams, concrete, tetrapods, dioxins galore Japan!

I'm curious.

When does my garbage can become a world heritage site?

I'm pretty sure it's worthy of it.

I got it at Daiso.

Out of 1144 total Unesco sites, Japan has 23. Why do some of you want Unesco to turn the whole country into one big UNESCO site? That would be very unfair.

Probably, the Senkaku Islands should have been included on the list of recommended world heritage sites, so that they may not be made havoc with for commercial as well as industrial purposes by anyone. Maybe, the next time around?

Does this mean the US military is going to stop building the new base in Henoko?

Unlike the article wants to make us think, Japan is using the UNESCO label mainly to promote tourism and not to protect wildlife and biodiversity.

Once a place is labelled "UNESCO", you can see all the tv channels talking about it and thousands of people suddendly interested in visiting the place.

Totally opposite of nature conservation.

"We need bold measures such as capping the number of visitors entering the island," he said.

Or how about limiting the amount of concrete that is used with abandon in Japan?

@BertieW...call it semantics but the U.S. military doesn't build any bases in Japan - GOJ builds them.

If it can help to preserve mangroves and the nature there, I say yes.

If it is to bring more tourists for a negative impact, I say no.

Does this mean the US military is going to stop building the new base in Henoko?

First no, it's not even close to the area, and 2nd, you already know it's not a new base either, you are just repeating false propaganda!

Yubaru,

First no, it's not even close to the area, and 2nd, you already know it's not a new base either, you are just repeating false propaganda!

The distance from Henoko, where the new base will be built, to Takae, around which USMC Jungle Warfare Training Center is located, is about 12 Km, a very short flight distance for Ospreys. 

No doubt, the Henoko base is genuinely a new base, never simply a replacement for Futenma, because it will be equipped with many innovative facilities Futenma doesn't have at the current site: for example, a port facility to harbor 200,000-ton Wasp-class warships.

Correction:

Wasp-class warships weigh 40,500 long tons.

From the article the most pertinent comment is this :

""We need bold measures such as capping the number of visitors entering the island,"

Exactly.

World Heritage Natural sites are awarded status to conserve/preserve the locations and all within.

That should mean severely restricting commercial activities of all types.

Some believe that the Status = Tourism = Money - witness how many believed Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido to be a financial bonanza first and heritage protection second.

Hopefully this will not happen this time as it seems like some are taking the right approach.

Okinawa belongs to the Ryukyuan people. Not Japan! I’m all for Ryukyu independence.

Korean and Chinese residents in Okinawa are not the Ryukyuan people.

Meanwhile, Yusuke Takayama, 39, who engages in activities to protect the Iriomote cat, expressed concern about potential "overtourism" as well as improper feeding and traffic accidents involving the rare wildcats.

This is a very important part, the purpose of the designation is to protect the biodiversity, but it can easily be counterproductive if proper care is not taken about the predictable increase of tourism.

The distance from Henoko, where the new base will be built,

Right, you put new tires on your car and call it a "new" car! You and everyone else who keeps crying about a "new" base has been brainwashed by the leftist media in Okinawa.

No how many ways you twist the words around, it's a landfill project connected to an existing, not "new" base!

There will be more foreigners than the Japanese visiting those places. It won't be the same.

well when you keep submitting locations to be world heritage listings then what do you expect when more foreigners visit, oh I get it now its about the tourist $, Yen, Euro, Yuan etc

It is the Chinese and S.Koreans who are talking about Okinawan independence.

In fact, Chinese and S.Koreans living in Japan are inciting the demonstrations against the base in Okinawa.

Yubaru,

Right, you put new tires on your car and call it a "new" car! You and everyone else who keeps crying about a "new" base has been brainwashed by the leftist media in Okinawa.

Your analogy doesn't work. Suppose you overhaul everything in the car -- not only tires, but engine, body parts inside and out, and coloring, with all the state of arts added. It may not be a brand new car, but you can call it a new car.　What remains unchanged is your ownership and right to use it.

That's how Futenma's replacement is.

The way Washington deals with Tokyo as regards bases is nothing but craftiness and cunning. This kind of a bilateral relation, a sham, won't last long, I'm sure.

Does anyone know what the new base at Henoko is going to be named?

Your analogy doesn't work. Suppose you overhaul everything in the car -- not only tires, but engine, body parts inside and out, and coloring, with all the state of arts added. It may not be a brand new car, but you can call it a new car.

No one calls it new, they call it refurbished, or rebuilt, because it is NOT new!

You know it too, you just play games with semantics because it hurts your pride to admit you are wrong! It's that simple, everyone who has been calling it a "new" base cant back up and say they are wrong, but everyone knows they are.

Does anyone know what the new base at Henoko is going to be named?

Lol! Yeah, Camp Schwab!

Yubaru,

You call it "refurbished" or "rebuilt"?! Lol. You are adding a new meaning to the word "replacement" and "reclamation of land". A great lexicographer you are indeed!

You call it "refurbished" or "rebuilt"?! Lol. You are adding a new meaning to the word "replacement" and "reclamation of land". A great lexicographer you are indeed!

Nice try, my response was to your comment here:

Suppose you overhaul everything in the car -- not only tires, but engine, body parts inside and out, and coloring, with all the state of arts added. It may not be a brand new car, but you can call it a new car.

The land reclamation is part of Camp Schwab, just as all the others were part of the municipalities that have been built all over Okinawa. Chatan is not a "new" town because of Mihama, nor is Itoman a "new" city because of Shiozaki and Nishizaki, and the list goes on!

You know it too, and just because you dont "like" it, does not change the fact that there is no "new" base either.

Nothing you say, and nothing you do, will change the fact that the construction will keep going on, and the landfill will be completed.

In 1996, the U.S. promised, in a very high profile fashion, the return of USMC Air Station Futenma only if its replacement were built in Henoko. But the facility to be newly built on reclaimed land is not simply a one-for-one replacement but way more than that with many functions newly added and installed: for example, a port facility that can berth a Wasp-class amphibious ship.

Such being the case, one can call it "a new base" with certainty. Yubaru, on his part, keeps saying it's not a new base but refurbishing of an old one, like putting new tires for worn-out ones.