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Mt. Fuji is a mountain that is visible from the whole world – as a symbol of the Japanese state or the great Orient, its images are featured in virtually every Japan-related brochure and merchandize well beyond the geographical constraints of the Archipelago. The present paper asks several provocative questions: to what extent are the Western perceptions of Mt. Fuji embedded into the constructed „universal heritage value“ in its UNESCO World Heritage nomination process; how does the defined universal value relate to the local identity value of Mt Fuji cultural landscape; and how does the contemporary perception of both universal and local value of the place relate to the evidence of its long-term history of land use? To what extent can we claim that its nomination as a „sacred place and source of artistic inspiration“ casts the mountain in terms of European values and perception of the place, and how well does it accommodate different identities and uses on local level? And on the other hand, to what extent are the present local identities related to historical land use before the rapid modernization? To answer these and related questions, we will use a variety of sources from interviews with people involved in world heritage nomination process, nomination materials, media sources, but also historical evidence of past landscape use, such as maps, historical documents and archaeological data. While the people involved in the construction of „universal value“ lament the excessive pressure by the Western experts, the local inhabitants express bewilderment about the nomination as a site of worship and art. How and by whom was the mountain used is a key question in addressing these claims. An additional theoretical issue involved in the discussion is how much should the present local identities and evaluations be included in the construction of heritage value in case of a massive landscape change that completely changes millenia-long practices?, QC 20170418

QC 20170418

The earliest pots in the world are from East Asia and date to the LatePleistocene. However, ceramic vessels were only produced in largenumbers during the warmer and more stable climatic conditions ofthe Holocene. It has long been assumed that the expansion of potterywas linked with increased sedentism and exploitation of newresources that became available with the ameliorated climate, butthis hypothesis has never been tested. Through chemical analysis oftheir contents, we herein investigate the use of pottery across anexceptionally long 9,000-y sequence from the Jo¯mon site of Torihamainwestern Japan, intermittently occupied from the Late Pleistocene tothe mid-Holocene. Molecular and isotopic analyses of lipids from 143vessels provides clear evidence that pottery across this sequence waspredominantly used for cooking marine and freshwater resources,with evidence for diversification in the range of aquatic productsprocessed during the Holocene. Conversely, there is little indicationthat ruminant animals or plants were processed in pottery, althoughit is evident from the faunal and macrobotanical remains that thesefoods were heavily exploited. Supported by other residue analysisdata from Japan, our results show that the link between potteryand fishing was established in the Late Paleolithic and lasted wellinto the Holocene, despite environmental and socio-economic change.Cooking aquatic products in pottery represents an enduring socialaspect of East Asian hunter–gatherers, a tradition based on a dependabletechnology for exploiting a sustainable resource in an uncertainand changing world.

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan with the present surface of 670 square kilometers and a rich ecosystem that has merited its listing as Ramsar Wetland in 1993. On the other hand, it has had a remarkable historical and cultural importance as a major junction for land and water traffic to and from Kyoto but also as a major provider of fish and rice to the ancient capital. In water management, modernization has meant mostly three things. First, land reclamation that led to the disappearance of most satellite lakes and reed fields that acted as buffer zones and cleaning mechanism for wastewaters running in from the irrigation channels of the paddy fields. Second, the control of water level in the lake that has proved to be detrimental for the numerous endemic fish species that depended on the seasonal swelling of the lake. And third, establishing land transportation, replacing the older water-centred transport routes. All these three questions were closely related to the new modern economy of increasing industrialization, inter-regional division of labour, development of agribusiness, privatization of lake shores and tourism, bringing about profound changes in water quality, species composition and the locals’ perception of the lake., QC 20150929

The designation of historical heritage occurs on the basis of modern values and ideologies that are supposedly embodied in the cultural landscapes of the nominated area, without considering the actual historical contexts supporting them. This paper discusses the meaning of historical heritage in the modern socio-cultural contexts by presenting results of the GIS analysis of a historical database in the Hida Province (present Gifu Prefecture), as an example, focusing on the observed historical changes from a landscape perspective. While located in deep mountains, Hida villages are often marketed as secluded places, cut off from the Modern world ("the last unexplored area of Japan" according to the UNESCO world heritage nomination documents), with a high level of auto-sufficiency and harmonious relationship with the environment. However, the analyses show that Hida has never been isolated; rather, the inter-regional trading network was the pre-requisite for the formation of this regional landscape throughout history, since it was dependent on gunpowder and silk industry. Originally nominated for its architectural qualities, the Hida villages are increasingly perceived through the prism of ecologically sustainable traditional rice farming. Contrasting historical data with modern discourse analysis, we question the concept of sustainability in imagined past and protected present landscapes., QC 20150929