Nara Cafe Owner Hopes for Ancient Capitals’ World Heritage Listing

Asuka, Nara Pref., July 20 (Jiji Press)–A cafe owner in Nara Prefecture pins high hopes on the expected registration of the Asuka-Fujiwara ancient capitals in the western Japan prefecture as a UNESCO World Heritage site. “I hope (the UNESCO listing) will be an opportunity for people to become interested in how Japan was built as a nation,” said Takahiro Yamazaki, 64, who runs the cafe in the Nara village of Asuka, home to many of the assets comprising the prospective World Heritage site. A decision to add the Asuka-Fujiwara ancient capitals, made up of 19 assets from the sixth to eighth centuries, including the Asuka Palace Site, the Fujiwara Palace Site and the Takamatsuzuka Mounded Tomb, to the list of World Heritage sites is expected to be made through deliberations at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s ongoing meeting in Busan, South Korea. Yamazaki moved to the Nara city of Kashihara, which hosts assets including the Fujiwara Palace Site, from Osaka Prefecture, a Nara neighbor, when he was a child. He said he was fascinated by the village of Asuka, which borders Kashihara and has rich rural scenery and a lot of historical heritage. “When I was a boy, I frequently went around historical sites by bicycle.” After graduating from university, he worked for the Kashihara city government, where he served as chief of the local tourism promotion division as well as of the regional attraction creation division. Since retirement, he has been teaching at the “World Heritage club” at local junior high schools, where students learn about historical monuments. Yamazaki also works as a tourist guide and is involved in the management of a guesthouse. “Generally, cities are constantly updated, so the remnants of the past are hard to survive,” Yamazaki said. “(On the other hand), many assets from the Asuka-Fujiwara ancient capitals have been preserved because development in the areas has been restricted under the ancient capital preservation law,” he also said. It is almost a miracle that sites that served as the stages of history remain as they are, Yamazaki said, adding, “If you dig, you can find ruins, so it’s like a time capsule.” If a decision to register the Asuka-Fujiwara ancient capitals as a World Heritage site is made, tourists are expected to flock to see the assets. Yamazaki said: “Japan’s first centralized government system was established in this place, and the latest culture at the time, such as Buddhism, was introduced to Japan. I hope people will come here and spend a relaxing time while thinking about ancient times.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]