RECORDS OF THE JAPANESE ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONThe Committee for the Protection ofBuried Cultural Properties
ADACHI Kayo1 & MABUCHI Kazuo2
The Committee for the Protection of Buried Cultural Properties (the Committee) isa standing committee installed in 1971 with the aim of preservation/protection andutilization of archaeological sites in Japan. Currently over 120 members are appointed
from 47 prefectures nationwide and work together to realize protection of culturalproperties and their appropriate use. In recent years, the Committee handles variousproblems sharing information with the Special Committee on Disasters and Research
Environment Committee, as well as cooperation with the Public Relations Committee.
Due to COVID-19, the directors’ regular meeting was canceled in April, May, andJune, and it was held online after July. As for the national committee meeting at thegeneral meeting in the spring and information exchanges at the convention in the fall,
the former was held in the form of mail deliberation and the latter was canceled as both
the general meeting and the convention was canceled. While activities of the Committee
were greatly constrained, it promoted the meeting to be held online, making it easier forcommittee members to join meetings for each of the liaison committees. It prompted closer
cooperative ties in information collection, and was able to maintain comparable content of
the meeting to face-to-face.
The requests submitted by the Committee in ﬁscal 2020 are as follows: 1. “Request forPreservation and Utilization of Nagasaki Prefecture’s Prefectural Oﬃce Site” on October
5, 2020; 2. “Request for Preservation of Tairajo Site in Iwaki City” on November 20,2020; 3. “Request for Preservation of Takanawa Embarkment Site” on January 22, 2021;
4. “Request for Protection of Buried Cultural Properties at Adjoining Land of National
Historic Site, Tokushima Castle” on January 25, 2021; 5. “Request for Preservation ofUrijiri Site in Aki City” on March 3, 2021; and 6. Chairman’s Statement for Preservationof Takanawa Embarkment Site.
Items for consideration were: 1. Measures against natural disasters such as large
earthquakes and extremely heavy rains in recent years; 2. Problems regarding enforcement
1 Contact postal address undisclosed(kayo7025@yahoo.co.jp)
2 Contact postal address undisclosed(umak@d6.dion.ne.jp)
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of revised Cultural Properties Protection Law; 3. What is “utilization” of archaeologicalsites; 4. Reinforcement for protection system of early modern sites; 5. Reinforcement forstorage system of artifacts; 6. Promotion of information disclosure; and so on.
In case of emergency excavation, protection movements always take place after thedevelopment. However, the system itself has to be reconsidered so that a consideration
for the site will be reﬂected in the development plan by a thorough prospecting to grasp
the underground condition in detail. The problem of excavation and protection of earlymodern/contemporary site was emerged as an important issue with Takanawa Embarkment
problem. Discussion for organizing the system should begin as soon as possible.
It is necessary for us to install tighter information networks and stronger cooperation
with other committees in the future. As for the problems with revision of the Museum Act,a joint discussion with the Research Environment Committee was held. As for Cultural
Properties Protection Law, it is necessary to strengthen information dispatches throughvarious media together with the Public Relations Committee, since our greatest weapon isarousing public opinion.

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