門川大作OFFICIAL

About our message to the LHC member cities concerning” KIMONO” trademark issue

The City of Kyoto has served as the chair of the League of Historical Cities (LHC) where 116 member cities are linked by the common bond of historical cities. LHC aims to resolve its challenge to” preserve and develop a historical city” which each LHC member faces.

At the 16th World Conference of the Historical Cities held in Bursa, Turkey, in 2018, LHC declared that “historical cities need to accept changes by external factors and need to persistently preserve unique cultures, structures and ways of life to building to promote building of sustainable and creative cities”.

Concerning the recent “KIMONO” trademark issue, Kyoto City decided to send the following message to the LHC member cities taking the issue as a good opportunity to learn cultures that are unique to regions.

July 2, 2019

Dear All,

Recently, people are particularly interested in traditional costumes including Kimono that are unique to countries and regions.

The League of Historical Cities has tackled with issues on maintaining, succeeding and developing cultures that are unique to each region in globalization, has exchanged practices amongst member cities, and has implemented initiatives.

I believe that the recent issue related to “KIMONO” trademark has provided us with a good opportunity to learn that cultures that are unique to regions should be respected and how such cultures are to be disseminated. Taking the issue as a chance, we would like to be more focused to promote initiatives to disseminate unique cultures with the people around the world.

Daisaku Kadokawa
Mayor of Kyoto