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"The Government of Japan respects the ICOMOS recommendation that was made from technical and expert perspectives. Especially, in developing the ''interpretive strategy,'' Japan will sincerely respond to the recommendation that the strategy allows ''an understanding of the full history of each site.'' More specifically, Japan is prepared to take measures that allow an understanding that there were a large number of Koreans and others who were brought against their will and forced to work under harsh conditions in the 1940s at some of the sites, and that during World War Two, the government of Japan also implemented its policy of requisition. Japan is prepared to incorporate appropriate measures into interpretative strategy to remember the victims, such as the establishment of an information center."

These words were part of the statement the Japanese spokesperson Sato Kuni (佐藤地) made on July 5, 2015 at the 39th Session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) held in Bonn, Germany where Japan's Meiji industrial sites became inscribed on UNESCO's world heritage list as "Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution." Two years have gone by since then and not much time remains until December 1, 2017 when Japan is due to submit its progress report to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. So, what measures have Japan actually taken thus far?

Erased History of Forced Mobilization

From September 1 to 5 of 2017, I visited Yawata Steel Works, the Manda and Miyanohara pits of Miike Coal Mine, the Nagasaki Shipyard, the Hashima Coal Mine (also known as the Battleship Island), and the Takashima Coal Mine, all Japanese sites where Koreans had been forced to work at and became designated in 2015 as World Heritage sites. All of the sites had information panels put up that commonly include the following description.

"A country of the Orient that had kept its doors closed to the West until the mid-nineteenth century felt that its coastal defense was being threatened and determined that its major goals should be to challenge Western science and pursue industrial development, which is how it began to accept the waves of industrial revolution from the West and establish its foundation as an industry-based country. Sites of Meiji Japan's industrial revolution are heritages that testify to industrialization over half a century from the 1850s up to 1910 that greatly changed Japan's heavy industry (iron and steel making, shipbuilding, coal mining) as well as the nature of Japan as a country."

The fact that Japan as an industry-based country used iron and coal from Japanese industrial sites to make battleships and invade its neighboring countries, the fact that many Koreas, Chinese, and Allied prisoners during the Second World War suffered from being forced to work at such sites were not mentioned in the information panels. What the panels also failed to mention is the fact that many Japanese prisoners suffered from harsh labor by being mobilized at Miike Coal Mine's Miyanohara pit until 1931.

The only material to give a historical description about forced mobilization was the leaflet introducing Miike Coal Mine's Manda pit in Japanese, which mentions that "Since the 1930s, Japan experienced a shortage of manpower from going to war with China and the Occident, which is what unfortunately caused it to forcibly mobilize people from its colony Joseon and China as well as Allied prisoners of war." This description was not included in the Korean, Chinese, and English versions of the leaflet and the guide introducing the Manda pit as well as guides to other sites all said they didn't know much about the forced mobilization of Koreans when asked about the subject. To me, efforts to "allow an understanding of the full history of each site" were nowhere in sight.

Abe Administration's Meiji Pride

To be able to understand this reality, it is necessary to examine how the Abe administration recognizes the Meiji Restoration. On October 7, 2016, the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide said during an interview with the newspaper Asahi Shimbun that "The Meiji Restoration's 150th anniversary is a monumental occasion for our country, which makes it important for us to learn about the Meiji spirit and newly recognize where Japan's strengths lie." A month later in November 2016, the Japanese government opened an office under the Cabinet Secretariat to serve as a center of operations and liaison between different ministries as they carry out policies and projects to commemorate the Meiji Restoration's 150th anniversary. The Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's high regard for the Meiji Restoration can be detected in a statement he gave in August 2015 where he said "With their overwhelming supremacy in technology, waves of colonial rule surged toward Asia in the 19th century. There is no doubt that the resultant sense of crisis drove Japan forward to achieve modernization. Japan built a constitutional government earlier than any other nation in Asia. The country preserved its independence throughout." The Abe administration understands the Meiji period as a successful, proud part of Japanese history, which is precisely reflected in introductions of the sites of Meiji industrial revolution that were made world heritages. With less than three months left to turn in its progress report, many will be on alert as to whether and how Japan will keep the promise it made to the international society.