Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses the pre-inscription phase of the cultural property "Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region" on the World Heritage List, while revealing a constellation of attachments to the place at the level of residents, state and non-state institutions and non-native inhabitants.

Paper long abstract:

The World Heritage cultural property "Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region" consists of twelve components (one archeological site, ten villages and a cathedral) spread over Nagasaki and Kumamoto prefectures reflecting the prohibition and revival of Christianity in Japan. The World Heritage nomination was initiated in the early 2000s by the Nagasaki-based Association for Declaring Nagasaki Church Group a World Heritage, proposing the "Nagasaki Church Group" (a selection of churches spread over Nagasaki Prefecture) as worthy of a "universal value", viewing its historical, architectural and "cultural heritage" characteristics. Upon a change of content, the property was inscribed on the World Heritage List in June 2018. The "Outstanding Universal Value" of the property stands in the distinctive way in which the Hidden Christians practiced their faith during the ban on Christianity, and concerns their emergence, social organizations and rituals.

My paper addresses the institutional and everyday representations of the World Heritage listing in the liminal phase of the transition from the initial nomination proposal "Churches and Christian Sites in Nagasaki" to the newly - designed one "Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki region", end of 2017 and beginning of 2018, based on exploratory ethnography in Tokyo, Nagasaki and places from the Nagasaki Prefecture. How does the World Heritage label shift the representations of the place? How are objects, places and practices re-defined? How are the elements of the cultural property represented in the late pre-inscription phase and what is the foreseen early afterlife upon the inscription? Upon fieldwork among residents, state and non-state institutional members and non-native inhabitants, this paper argues that there is a constellation of attachments to the place playing out in the narratives: to churches, to its histories or to its projected transformations upon the inscription. Moreover, though content analysis of interviews and promotional materials, I explore specific themes addressed by tourism narratives in the late nomination phase.