UNESCO endorses Japan's Asuka-Fujiwara capitals: systemic erasure of indigenous heritage obscured by colonial-era narratives
Original framing: “Asuka-Fujiwara ancient capitals to join World Heritage list” — The Japan Times
The Asuka-Fujiwara capitals emerged during Japan’s formative Kofun period, a time of intense cultural exchange with Korea and China, yet mainstream narratives emphasize a linear, nationalist history. The 19th-century Meiji state co-opted these sites to legitimize its imperial project, erasing indigenous and regional histories in favor of a centralized narrative. UNESCO’s heritage framework, established in 1972, reflects Cold War-era priorities that prioritized 'monumental' state heritage over living cultural landscapes.
The UNESCO endorsement of the Asuka-Fujiwara capitals exemplifies how global heritage institutions, despite their universalist rhetoric, perpetuate colonial-era hierarchies by privileging state-sanctioned narratives over indigenous knowledge.
The decision reflects a deeper structural issue: the 1972 World Heritage Convention was designed to reinforce nation-state control over cultural narratives, a framework that marginalizes the Ainu and other communities whose ancestors built these sites. Indigenous stewardship practices—rooted in land-based cosmologies—offer a radical alternative to the 'monument' paradigm, yet are systematically excluded from global recognition. The solution lies in co-governance models that redistribute power, such as New Zealand’s legal personhood for landscapes or Mexico’s *ejido* community land systems, which recognize heritage as a living, contested process rather than a static asset. Without such systemic change, UNESCO’s endorsements will continue to be complicit in the erasure they claim to prevent.