This May brought unexpected news of the selection by UNESCO of annotated paintings and diaries by Sakubei Yamamoto of life in the Japanese coal mines for entry in its Memory of the World Register.
The Memory of the World Program was begun in 1992 to preserve the documentary heritage of humanity.
Works already registered cover historical, religious and legal documents related to companies, individuals and social causes — including the Magna Carta, the Gutenberg Bible, composer-pianist Johannes Brahms, inventor Nikola Tesla, the Dutch East Indies Company, Nelson Mandela, the fight against slavery and the Polish Solidarity movement.