Japan's Council for Cultural Affairs, which advises the culture minister, selected Hikone Castle in Shiga Prefecture on September 3, 2026 as the country's fiscal 2026 candidate for registration as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Construction of the castle began in 1604 under the Tokugawa shogunate and was completed some 20 years later; its tower and other facilities are designated national treasures, and it has sat on Japan's tentative list since 1992. Local authorities are pursuing a single-site nomination arguing the castle embodies the daimyo system of rule in the Edo Period (1603-1867) - a claim UNESCO's advisory body ICOMOS questioned in a 2024 preliminary evaluation, prompting the council to defer selection in August 2025 until a revised draft nomination was resubmitted this May. The government will submit a provisional nomination to UNESCO by the end of September 2026, a formal nomination by February 2028, and aims for inscription at the World Heritage Committee's 2028 meeting.