Image copyright Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport Image caption There are strict rules for visitors to the island 
 
 A Japanese island where women are not allowed to set foot has been recommended for listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site. 
 
 Okinoshima in south-western Japan only allows men to visit for religious reasons, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reports. Even then, visitors are not allowed to bring back any souvenirs to the mainland, not even a blade of grass, the paper says. 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. "Those are issues that will have to be dealt with if the listing goes ahead," Asahi Shimbun says, noting that tourism would surely become a factor in Okinoshima's near future. 
 
 However, there's currently little chance of the gender bar being lifted. "Our stance will remain unchanged even if it's registered in the World Heritage list," a Munakata Taisha official told the Mainichi Daily, "We'll continue to strictly regulate visits to the island." 
 
 Reporting by Alistair Coleman 
 
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 Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter. ||||| A UNESCO advisory body has recommended adding to the World Heritage list the island of Okinoshima, an ancient religious site in Fukuoka Prefecture where women are not allowed to set foot, according to the Cultural Affairs Agency. 
 
 The International Council on Monuments and Sites, the advisory body known as ICOMOS, notified Japan of its decision late Friday night. It is likely to be endorsed at a meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Krakow, Poland, in July. 
 
 If approved as recommended, the island, which is part of the prefecture’s Munakata region, will be the 17th set of Japanese cultural assets to be granted World Heritage status. Including natural heritage items and sites, the addition will see the total number of Japanese assets on the list rise to 21. 
 
 The island was one of the assets examined this time, which also included sites on another island in the prefecture known as Oshima. Both islands lie between the Korean Peninsula and Kyushu. 
 
 Okinoshima is home to the Okitsu shrine, part of the Munakata Grand Shrine. Oshima, meanwhile, hosts the Nakatsu shrine while the Munakata region on Kyushu’s mainland is home to the Hetsu shrine. Both the Nakatsu and Hetsu shrines are also part of the grand shrine. 
 
 The Shinbaru-Nuyama tumulus complex, a burial ground of the Munakata clan that presided over religious rituals in the region, was also examined by ICOMOS but did not make the final cut. 
 
 Okinoshima was the site of numerous rituals involving prayers for the safety of oceangoing ships and successful exchanges with the people of the Korean Peninsula and China between the fourth and ninth centuries. 
 
 Some 80,000 artifacts brought as gifts from overseas have been uncovered on the island, including gold rings from the Korean Peninsula and glass cup fragments believed to have come from Persia. These items have all been designated as national treasures. 
 
 On the island, strict taboos from ancient times are still followed, including a controversial ban on women from entering it. Men setting foot on the island are first required to strip all clothes and perform a cleansing ritual. 
 
 Looking forward to 2018, Japan has recommended Christian sites in Nagasaki and Kumamoto prefectures as cultural heritage listings and islands in Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures as natural heritage sites. 
 
 Meanwhile, UNESCO’s executive board in Paris has approved a reform plan for its Memory of the World program calling for prior talks on applications related to controversial issues, sources said. 
 
 The 58-nation board, which includes Japan, unanimously adopted a resolution welcoming an interim report on the draft reform plan by the International Advisory Committee, whose members include history experts, the sources said. 
 
 Japan called for reforms, including improved transparency, after China successfully sought to have documents related to the 1937 Nanking Massacre listed in the Memory of the World Register in October 2015. 
 
 The two Asian giants have differing views of incident’s details, including the number of Chinese killed by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers. 
 
 The committee, which advises UNESCO on the program, will craft a final report to be submitted to the board at its next meeting sometime around October, the sources said. 
 
 In South Korea, a Memory of the World Register campaign is currently underway to list documents related to so-called comfort women who were forced to work as prostitutes for Imperial Japanese Army soldiers before and during World War II. 
 
 If process is carried out under the reformed procedures, Japan will be given an opportunity to express its opinion before a UNESCO decision about that possible listing. 
 
 The draft reform plan calls for soliciting opinions from countries related to subjects on which Memory of the World applications are made. 
 
 If any objections are raised, UNESCO will allot concerned parties time for discussions. 
 
 The Memory of the World program was designed to protect documentary heritage. From Japan, five sets of historical records have been listed, including those related to the Soviet Union’s internment of Japanese in prison camps after World War II. 
 
 Following the controversial registration of the documents related to the Nanking Massacre, Tokyo halted financial contributions to UNESCO. Payments were resumed late last year after progress was made toward potential reforms. 
 
 The interim report noted the necessity of creating a framework to protect the program from any attempt to hijack it for political purposes. ||||| Worshippers offer prayers in front of Munakata Taisha's Okitsu-Miya Shrine on Okinoshima Island in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Sept. 30, 2016. (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. 
 
 The review panel recommended a group of four ancient monuments -- Okinoshima in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, which is home to Okitsu-Miya Shrine, and three reefs nearby -- be inscribed on the world cultural heritage list. 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 three shrines comprise the Munakata Taisha Shrine. 
 
 "It's regrettable that the panel issued a recommendation that only Okinoshima be registered as a world cultural heritage site. We'd like to convince city and prefectural officials that the three shrines make up Munakata Taisha and convey that to the Agency for Cultural Affairs," Munakata Taisha priest Naotoyo Kurokami said. 
 
 He touched on the fact that the Miho no Matsubara seashore in Shizuoka Prefecture was added to the World Heritage list as part of the Mount Fuji cultural site at the strong urging of Tokyo even though the preliminary review panel recommended the seashore be dropped from the proposal. 
 
 "We're not pessimistic. I think we can convince the panel. We must consider how to persuade them into accepting our request," he said. 
 
 Tadami Nishikawa, 78, who operates a tailor's shop in Munakata, said Nakatsu-Miya and Hetsu-Miya should be registered as world cultural heritage sites along with Okitsu-Miya. 
 
 "I hope that all four sites will be recognized by the World Heritage Committee. Munakata Taisha has a solemn atmosphere and I want as many people as possible to know the site," Nishikawa said. 
 
 Masahide Yano, 39, a local traditional craft dealer, showed mixed feelings about the recommendation by the preliminary review panel. 
 
 "Munakata Taisha is made up of the three shrines. It's regrettable only part of it was recognized," he said. "I hope the excitement of having the site registered on the world cultural heritage list will spread to the downtown area, although it remains to seen how far it will vitalize the city." 
 
 Yoshihisa Ikeda, 67, who belongs to a local association of volunteer tour guides, said the group has already received some 300 requests for guided tours this year, 100 more than all of last year. 
 
 Ikeda said the association is trying to increase the number of guides in response to the increase in the number of visitors, adding that many people come to Munakata from Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. 
 
 "I hope UNESCO will approve of the registration of all eight sites," he said. 
 
 Members of the general public are allowed to enter Okinoshima only during its annual festival on May 27, but women have traditionally been prohibited from visiting. Meanwhile, Munakata Shrine priests take turns staying on Okinoshima throughout the year. 
 
 A Munakata Taisha official said, "Our stance will remain unchanged even if it's registered in the World Heritage list." 
 
 The annual festival is held to comfort the spirits of Japanese and Russian servicemen who died during the Naval Battle of the Sea of Japan near Okinoshima in 1905. About 200 men selected in a drawing are allowed to attend the memorial service. 
 
 Landings on the island, which is a subject of worship, particularly by women, have traditionally been regarded as taboo. 
 
 "The World Heritage aim is to pass down culture and tradition to future generations. We'll continue to strictly regulate visits to the island," a shrine official said. 
 
 "The mystique of the island has been maintained because its tradition has been observed for many years," said an official of the Munakata Municipal Government.
– 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.)