Preface

This edited volume represents one of the first scholarly research projects through an international collaboration between Japan and Italy to address economic and social values of cultural heritage beyond its inherent—historic, archaeological, or aesthetic—values. It identifies emerging trends, issues, and problems in policy that have shifted its sole focus on preservation onto its utilization for economic and social purposes that are often considered exogenous to the inherent value of culture. The volume adopts an international, inter-disciplinary approach, examines various issues shared by Italy and Japan and provides constructive arguments beyond the conventional one that negatively views preservation vs utlization of cultural heritage as an unsolvable conflict.