Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine the effects of the 2007 World Heritage designation on the small Japanese village of Omori, which is situated in the centre of the site of Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its cultural landscape. Cultural and physical changes resulting from the designation will be discussed.

Paper long abstract:

Based on fieldwork conducted in 2007-2010 and earlier visits, this study will present a chronology of changes in the lived environment and the daily lives of residents caused by World Heritage designation of the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its cultural landscape site. The village of Omori, located in the middle of the property, was the former administrative centre for the silver mines and an important regional nucleus, but has shrunk to a population of four hundred residents. Because of the past prominence of the village, it contains a number of historically important buildings and its main street is a preservation district under the Japanese cultural property scheme. Nevertheless, the World Heritage designation was promulgated on the basis of the long-closed mines and the property, while containing the village, is considered the relic landscape of forested mountains and primarily unexplored mines dating from the sixteenth century; it does not specify the living village as an integral part of this landscape, and thus tends to relegate it to the status of a tourist base. The relatively sudden transformation of the village from isolated mountain community to the famous destination of millions of tourists is examined from the viewpoints of those caught up in the process.