Common Heritage with Borders: Contentious Interpretation of UNESCO Heritage in East Asia (original) (raw)

2020, Kanazawa Cultural Resource Studies, 24

Recently, competition has grown among East Asian countries in relation to the inscription of UNESCO Heritage on the registers for World Heritage, Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Memory of the World. This has led to conflicts among countries as a result of differences in historical background and political viewpoint. In particular, the Japanese nomination of Hashima Island for inscription on the World Heritage List in 2015 brought serious opposition from the Republic of Korea and China, as the island was the site of forced labor involving significant numbers of Korean and Chinese people during the Second World War. The Japanese nomination of the ‘Return to Maizuru Port’ for inscription on the Memory of the World Register demonstrates the reversed position of Japan after the War, relating to the treatment of Japanese military personnel and civilians by the Soviet Union, and led to Russian criticism of Japan. Meanwhile, conflict between the Republic of Korea and China, as witnessed in the case of the nomination of the ‘Danoje festival,’ shows that nationalism can draw borders even in intangible culture. Through an analysis of these cases, this paper tries to suggest ways to resolve this kind of conflict over the historical interpretation of heritage. Keywords: Heritage Interpretation, UNESCO, World Heritage, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Memory of the World, Conflicts in East Asia * This paper is based on the author’ s presentation at the “International Symposium on Cross-Border Cultural Heritage,” organized by the Center for Cultural Resource Studies Institute of Human and Social Sciences, Kanazawa University and held on the 27th of January 2019 in Kanazawa, Japan.