Japan's balancing act between past and present at UNESCO

Trevor Kennedy's recent opinion article in The Diplomat, a Tokyo-based current affairs magazine, is well worth a read for the light its casts on the role of politics and power in the nomination of world heritage sites. With 15 cultural heritage sites and 4 natural heritage sites to its credit, Japan has had a remarkably successful track record. In part, this is a function of its wealth. As Mr. Kennedy points out, heritage site applications are overwhelmingly submitted by rich countries. Another important factor is Japan's membership on UNESCO's World Cultural Committee, which is composed of 21 states and whose members' nominations are significantly more likely to succeed than other countries.

Yet, Japan appears ready to risk its position by allowing its ongoing conflict with neighbouring states over its wartime record increasingly to colour its interventions at UNESCO. Recent examples include the withholding of contributions to the agency in protest at the decision to inscribe Chinese documents pertaining to the Nanking Massacre to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, and the tendering of documents for inclusion in the same register pertaining to the Soviets' use of forced Japanese labour in Siberia after the war.

While invariably there is a political dimension to any country's interpretation and presentation of its cultural heritage, Japan is under more scrutiny than most given the simmering resentment over past atrocities that continues to colour Japan's bilateral relations with countries throughout South-East Asia. In this context, Mr. Kennedy is right to argue that "Japan needs to walk a fine line as it responds to efforts to politicize UNESCO’s work."