(Mainichi) 
 
 MUNAKATA, Fukuoka -- Local residents are disappointed at the recommendation by a UNESCO preliminary review panel that four of eight sites related to the island of Okinoshima be dropped from Japan's proposal for inclusion in the world cultural heritage list. It has been recommended for World Heritage status by an advisory panel, with a final decision to be made at a UNESCO meeting in July.  Worshippers offer prayers in front of Munakata Taisha's Okitsu-Miya Shrine on Okinoshima Island in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Sept. 30, 2016. However, it urged that four other sites, including Nakatsu-Miya Shrine on Oshima Island and Hetsu-Miya Shrine on mainland Kyushu, be excluded from Japan's proposal. The home to the Munakata Taisha Okitsumiya shrine, which honours a goddess of the sea, Okinoshima was the site of rituals for the safety of ships, and successful exchanges with the people of the Korean Peninsula and China between the fourth and ninth centuries, the Japan Times says. On the island, strict taboos from ancient times are still followed, including a controversial ban on women from entering it. Religious taboos still persist on the island, and - as well as the ban on women - male visitors are first required to strip naked and perform a cleansing ritual, and must never disclose the details of their trip. Following the controversial registration of the documents related to the Nanking Massacre, Tokyo halted financial contributions to UNESCO.
– For centuries, a remote island in southwestern Japan has been deemed too sacred for women to visit, and even the men who do must strip naked for a ritual cleansing, as well as never discuss the details of their trip. Okinoshima, an ancient religious site that is home to the Munakata Taisha Okitsumiya shrine—which somewhat ironically honors a sea goddess—is being recommended by a UNESCO advisory board to be added to the exclusive World Heritage list, reports the Japan Times. If it goes through, it would be Japan's 17th cultural asset granted World Heritage status. The recommendation is expected to be endorsed at a UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in July, and the ban on women isn't looking like it's going to be lifted anytime soon. "We'll continue to strictly regulate visits to the island," one officials tells the Mainichi Daily. How tourism will be handled remains to be seen, but the BBC notes that there is a strict ban on souvenirs; you currently can't get so much as a blade of grass off the island. (The "Garden of Eden" in Iraq was added last year.)