Japan adds 19 cultural assets to heritage list

Japanese has added 19 new cultural assets to a list it terms 'Japan Heritage'.

The newly-created list is aimed at promoting tourism and boosting local economies, The Japan Times reported on Thursday.

The designations, unveiled this week, boosted the total number of cultural assets to 37, after 18 were selected last year.

Candidates need to show their history and cultural traditions in narratives that incorporate features such as buildings, ruins and festivals. The agency aims to have 100 assets on the list by 2020, when Tokyo hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The 19 newly-added assets included flame-shaped pottery discovered near the Shinano river in Niigata prefecture.

Cultural assets in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, hit hard by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, were also added to the list.

Among those on the list were the culture in Miyagi created by Date Masamune, lord of the Sendai domain in the 16-17th century, and the pilgrimage of 33 Buddhist statues in 17 Fukushima municipalities, including the city of Aizuwakamatsu.

--IANS

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