A government panel on Thursday endorsed churches and other Christian sites in Nagasaki and Kumamoto prefectures as candidates for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage listing in 2016.
The government will submit a written recommendation for the locations to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization by Feb. 1 after receiving Cabinet approval.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee will decide whether to accept the recommendation around the summer of 2016.
Last August, Japan's Council for Cultural Affairs recommended the same Christian locations as heritage candidates for 2015, while another panel backed old industrial facilities in eight prefectures as candidates.
Since each country is allowed to recommend only one World Cultural Heritage site candidate each year to UNESCO, the government opted to recommend the industrial facilities for 2015.
The 13 Christian sites include Nagasaki's Oura Tenshudo Catholic Church, which was built in 1865 and is the oldest Christian church in Japan, and the village of Sakitsu in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, where Christians survived after Japan banned Christianity in the 17th century.