Iwate leaders welcome UNESCO decision on Hiraizumi+

PARIS, June 26 Kyodo -
The mayor of Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture, said Saturday he expected the approval of his town's Buddhist temples as a World Heritage cultural site ''will contribute to reconstruction from the March disaster.''
Following the endorsement of Hiraizumi at the UNESCO meeting in Paris, Mayor Masayoshi Sugawara told reporters, ''It's encouraging news for the disaster-hit areas. I hope to report it to the people of Hiraizumi as soon as possible.''
Iwate Prefecture is one of the areas severely ravaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Iwate Gov. Takuya Tasso told a press conference, ''I feel the whole world expressed sympathy and encouragement for the disaster-hit areas.''
In his speech at the U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization's World Heritage Committee following the decision, Tasso said Hiraizumi was created in the 12th century to recover from terrible devastation caused by war and to achieve everlasting peace, overlaying the past history on the current mission of rebirth from the disaster.
''I'm going to promote reconstruction work with the lessons of Hiraizumi in mind,'' Tasso said.
In Hiraizumi, meanwhile, some 200 residents gathered at the city hall on Sunday to celebrate, with Nanako Chiba, 11, saying, ''I hope many people will visit Hiraizumi.''
Shunwa Yamada, who presides over Chusonji Buddhist temple, told reporters, ''I feel pleasure as well as a sense of responsibility as the value (of this town) has been affirmed.''
Among the many tourists visiting Chusonji the same day was Hitoshi Anzai, a 58-year-old office worker from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. ''I am visiting Hiraizumi for the first time in more than 10 years as it has been designated as a World Heritage site. It is a good place to come.''
==Kyodo