An advisory panel to the education minister decided Friday to propose three Japanese cultural assets for the World Heritage List of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, panel members said.

In response to the proposal from the Council for the Protection of Cultural Properties, the government plans to submit the three sites to UNESCO in December.

One of the sites is a group of 12th Century Buddhist temples and other buildings in Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture, constructed under the rule of the Fujiwara family, according to government officials.

Another proposed site comprises a group of temples and shrines in and around the Kii mountains -- a Buddhist temple on Mount Koya in Wakayama Prefecture, Shinto shrines in the Kumano region between Wakayama and Mie prefectures and on Mount Omine in Nara Prefecture.

The third site is the remains of a major silver mine in western Shimane Prefecture, formerly called the Iwami region.

Ten items in Japan are presently on the World Heritage List. Eight of them are cultural assets, including the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima and a group of temples and shrines in Nara, while two others are natural sites.

A group of ancient monuments and the ruins of Ryukyuan castles in Okinawa Prefecture is expected to be placed on the list at a meeting of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee later this month.

The Japanese panel also decided to recommend Japan's Noh drama for UNESCO's list of intangible cultural assets, which includes such diverse treasures as minority languages and folk dances in danger of extinction.

The panel also decided to propose the kabuki drama and the "ningyo jyoruri" puppet theater as less urgent candidates for protection.