Introduction

More than 130 years have passed since the Meiji Restoration, when Western culture was, for the first time, introduced to Japan. Until recently, Japan has struggled to imitate the Western countries to achieve modernization. As we entered the nineties, however, Japan faced a new turning point; the Japanese began to reconsider their own cultural tradition. As a result, many of Japan's old historical buildings were registered as part of the world cultural heritage, and these buildings have since been visited by many tourists everyday. The cultural heritages represent Japan's great achievements in the past. Our attempt here is to remind Japan of its great treasures, which have been handed down for thousands of years. We feel that by learning from and understanding these legacies, which represent our culture, we will surely be able to develop and hand down a richer and greater culture for the twenty first century.