A UNESCO advisory panel has recommended giving World Heritage status to the Tomioka Silk Mill, a historic factory building symbolizing Japan's industrialization from the 19th century, the Agency for Cultural Affairs announced Saturday.
The endorsement for inscription of the mill and related sites in Gunma Prefecture will likely be formalized at a meeting of the World Heritage Committee scheduled for June 15-25 in Qatar. The committee normally honors listing recommendations.
Japan's culture minister Hakubun Shimomura welcomed the news. "It gives us great pleasure that they have been evaluated as worthy of World Cultural Heritage. We would like to do our utmost so that they will be listed as recommended."