2024/05/15Comment by Rolf Hoehmann on Meiji World Heritage Visit, March 4th-7th 2024

I would like to give some comments to the sites we were able to see and discuss in our recent visit - invited by your institute - to the Sites of Japan´s Meiji Industrial Revolution.

IHIC Industrial Heritage Information Centre: The installation of an information centre is an absolutely positive development. The exhibition about the Meiji World Heritage is very well executed and clearly understandable also for foreigners. The exhibition explains the comparable complex serial character of the WH sites very well and gives a good idea about the historical developments in Meiji Japan. At first glance the location of the centre in Tokyo, far away from the WH sites, seems to be not a natural choice. However, I can follow the arguments that it is not a visitor center but a research institute and a first focal point for visitors from abroad and from the homeland and for educational purposes for the whole of Japan.
Sites on Mitsubishi HI premises in Nagasaki: Shipbuilding as a major part of the Meiji industrialisation is represented by several objects in Nagasaki, with four sites: No.3 Dry Dock, Cantilever Crane, Senshokaku Guest House and Pattern Shop inside the MHI grounds. Access, as required by the WH principles, is very limited and might become even further restricted by safety precautions for navy shipbuilding. A better and more open access to the Pattern Shop might be helpful to fulfill the WH requirements. However, the Pattern Shop seems to be in bad condition as the roof is leaking. It is indispensable to protect the valuable collection, exposition and archives against the elements.
Nagasaki Digital Museum: The privately run Digital Museum gives a very good introduction to the Hashima island history and current state. The presence of a former resident of Hashima was a fascinating encounter. Some of the interesting videos ran to fast so that we were hardly able to follow the english subtitles.
Session on conservation in Nagasaki: Safeguarding the integrity of Hashima island might be one of the greatest challenges of WH sites worldwide. It is a common and useful approach to develop a plan for priority steps. The measures to repair and protect the seawall revetment seem to be carefully researched and carefully thought out. This incomparable task needs some compromises like new concrete constructions and a moderate heightening of the wall. These new concrete surfaces might have a different discernable colour, but due to the harsh weather conditions will integrate very fast, as can be seen on the new constructions in place since the last years.

Darmstadt, March 2024
Rolf Hoehmann
Bureau for Industrial Archeology