Course Description

In this class, we will study the role of cultural property administration by comparing Japan's Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties and the international system for the protection of cultural properties, focusing on the World Heritage.
The World Heritage program started out with the idea of protecting and preserving the common heritage of mankind, but since then, the economic effects of the program have been attracting attention from a business perspective, and political issues that are far removed from the pure protection of cultural heritage have come to influence the World Heritage listings. In addition, there is an active movement in Japan to utilize cultural properties for tourism, including the Japan Heritage System, and the roles required of cultural property administration are diversifying. The purpose of this lecture is to acquire basic knowledge of the roles required of cultural property administration against this background.