Japan still has an entry on the World Monuments Fund's biennial "watch list" of the planet's 100 most endangered cultural sites, according to the 2004 update released last week. It is time to ensure that the historic port town of Tomonoura, which was first included in the 2002 list, is not on it two years from now.
The WMF, a New York-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of historical and cultural assets, has been publishing its "world monuments watch" since 1995. The compilation is not linked to UNESCO's World Heritage List, which is a growing inventory of cultural and/or natural properties regarded as global treasures, although there are overlaps. For example, the Great Wall of China makes both lists, as does the ancient city of Bosra, in Syria.
The sole purpose of the WMF's list is to generate publicity about sites considered specifically at risk -- from a single house or church to an entire historic district or landscape -- and to pressure local authorities into responding. In an ideal world, this list would not exist, as it is certainly no honor to be on it. It makes for fascinating reading, though.
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