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Kitakyushu, Japan
The site encompasses a series of twenty three component parts, mainly located in the southwest of Japan. It bears testimony to the rapid industrialization of the country from the middle of the 19th century to the early 20th century, through the development of the iron and steel industry, shipbuilding and coal mining. The site illustrates the process by which feudal Japan sought technology transfer from Europe and America from the middle of the 19th century and how this technology was adapted to the country’s needs and social traditions. The site testifies to what is considered to be the first successful transfer of Western industrialization to a non-Western nation.
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Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining are a group of historic sites that played an important part in the industrialization of Japan in the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods (1850s–1910), and are part of the industrial heritage of Japan. In 2009 the monuments were submitted jointly for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List under criteria ii, iii, and iv. The sites were accepted at the 39th UNESCO World Heritage session, under the condition to take measures "that allow an understanding that there were a large number of Koreans and others who were brought against their will and forced to work under harsh conditions ...", and again, such measures have yet to be implemented.
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