The fact that only one Japanese expert has been appointed to UNESCO’s Memory of the World review body since the program began in 1992 is a grave issue Japan cannot ignore.
As China and South Korea continue to politicize the Memory of the World framework, Japan must urgently strengthen its involvement in both the review process and regional committees in order to protect its national honor and historical truth.

2019-05-30
It was learned on the 17th, through interviews with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, that since the start of the program in 1992, only one Japanese expert has been appointed to UNESCO’s review body, which effectively decides whether registration is approved or not.

This is a chapter I posted on 2019-04-22 under the title:
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed the LDP on the 15th to examine the process by which the registration was carried out.
It is also a chapter I posted on 2015-10-19.
The Sankei Shimbun of 2015-10-18 reported something that, for some reason, Asahi Shimbun did not report at all.

No Japanese in the Memory of the World review body.
Only one in the past.

UNESCO.

Regarding the review of UNESCO’s Memory of the World, which became controversial after China’s “Nanjing Massacre Documents” were registered, it was learned on the 17th, through interviews with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, that since the program began in 1992, only one Japanese expert has been appointed to UNESCO’s review body, which effectively decides whether registration is approved or not.
At present there are no Japanese experts at all on the review body, and within the Liberal Democratic Party and elsewhere, voices are being raised that Japan should press UNESCO to appoint Japanese experts in order to prevent China and South Korea from politically exploiting the Memory of the World program.

Registration in the Memory of the World is reviewed by the International Advisory Committee, IAC, under UNESCO, and for matters it recommends for registration, the Director-General of UNESCO decides whether to register them.
In practice, however, it is customary for the Director-General simply to ratify the recommendation.
According to UNESCO’s website, the IAC has 14 members in total, with five from Europe, including Bulgaria, Germany, and the Czech Republic, and three from Africa.
In Asia, there is only one member, from Cambodia, and there are no experts from Japan, China, or South Korea.
The appointment of committee members is decided through consultations between the UNESCO Secretariat and member states, but since the Memory of the World program began in 1992, the only Japanese appointed to the IAC has been Masanori Aoyagi, the current Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, who served as a member from 2007 to 2011.

The bold emphasis and the passages between asterisks are mine.

In addition to the international register, which contains items reviewed by the IAC, the Memory of the World program also has regional registers containing items reviewed by three regional committees: “Africa,” “Asia-Pacific,” and “Latin America and the Caribbean.”
In the Asia-Pacific regional committee, a Chinese expert serves as chair, and one of the four vice-chairs is Korean, while the reality is that Japanese are kept entirely outside the framework.

Not only is it virtually as though China and South Korea pay nothing at all in assessed contributions to the United Nations, but these are countries that achieved their current economic condition through enormous financial assistance from Japan, and yet they trample all over the United Nations as if it belonged to them.
And the mass media, such as Asahi, have never reported this at all.
Masayuki Takayama, a true journalist…。
Was the first to let us know that under GHQ occupation policy and its brainwashing policy…。
Large numbers of resident Koreans had entered Japanese mass media, above all Asahi and NHK…。
The fact that I have long said…。
That it would not be an exaggeration at all to say that Asahi and Mainichi are already being manipulated by South Korea and China…。
This fact proves that I was entirely correct.
It is a completely unbelievable story…。
And it clearly proves that Asahi has indeed continued to commit unforgivable crimes against a proper Japan and the Japanese people…。
They are a newspaper company that has continued to sell out Japan and the Japanese people to South Korea and China.
“Japan did bad things.”
“The Japanese are an evil people.”…。
With this ridiculous way of thinking, brainwashed by GHQ…。
They have helped South Korea and China slander Japan and the Japanese people.
What is more…。
Katsuichi Honda fabricated the Nanjing Massacre…。
Takashi Uemura fabricated the comfort women story…。
And they provided those countries with material to attack Japan before the world.

If something is recognized as worthy of registration as a Memory of the World item for the “Asia-Pacific” region, it effectively receives something like UNESCO’s seal of approval, and so voices within the Liberal Democratic Party and elsewhere are saying that not only the IAC, but also “the regional committees must have Japanese experts sent into them so that Japan can exercise influence.”
Following the registration of the Nanjing Massacre Documents in the Memory of the World, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the 15th instructed the LDP to examine the process by which the registration was carried out.
Furthermore, regarding the fact that China and South Korea appear ready to resubmit jointly the comfort women materials whose registration was not approved this time, he expressed determination to block such registration, saying, “It is important to do everything possible from now.”