No girls allowed: Japan's men-only island gets UNESCO nod

But you'll have to act fast, because shrine officials are considering banning future travel for anyone who is not a priest

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  Okinoshima, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan. From the late 4th century, rituals were performed on the island to pray for a safe voyage and successful cultural exchanges along the seafaring silk road between the Asian continent and Japan. These days, the island is inhabited by a solitary Shinto priest and only men are allowed ashore, at certain times of the year. EPA / Everett Kennedy Brown

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  Okinoshima, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan. From the late 4th century, rituals were performed on the island to pray for a safe voyage and successful cultural exchanges along the seafaring silk road between the Asian continent and Japan. These days, the island is inhabited by a solitary Shinto priest and only men are allowed ashore, at certain times of the year. EPA / Everett Kennedy Brown

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  Asmara, Eritrea, Africa. The Cinema Impero, pictured above, in the Eritrea capital Asmara, formed part of the country's UNESCO application. UNESCO called it "an exceptional example of early modernist urbanism at the beginning of the 20th century, and its application in an African context". AP / Edward Denison.

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  The Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Gory, southern Poland. Tarnowskie Góry represents a significant contribution to the global production of lead and zinc, UNESCO said, and is located in one of the main mining areas of central Europe. The site includes the entire underground mine with adits, shafts, galleries and water management system. EPA / Andrzej Grygiel

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  Sambor Prei Ku, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Buddhist monks prayed at a pagoda after the archaeological site was added to UNESCO's world heritage list on July 10. The "temple in the richness of the forest” in the Khmer language, was identified by UNESCO as Ishanapura, the capital of the Chenla Empire that flourished in the late 6th and early 7th centuries CE. The art and architecture developed there became models for other parts of the region and lay the ground for the unique Khmer style of the Angkor period. Reuters / Samrang Pring

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  Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries: Croatia, Italy, Montenegro. This handout photo made available by the Comune di Palmanova shows an aerial view of Palmanova, northern Italy. The Venetian Works of Defence consists of 15 components of defence works, spanning more than 1,000 kilometres between the Lombard region of Italy and the eastern Adriatic Coast. EPA / Comune Di Palmanova Handout

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  Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries: Croatia, Italy, Montenegro. This handout photo made available by the Comune di Palmanova shows fortifications in Palmanova, northern Italy. The Venetian Works of Defence consists of 15 components of defence works, spanning more than 1,000 kilometres between the Lombard region of Italy and the eastern Adriatic Coast. EPA / Comune Di Palmanova Handout

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  Lake District, Northwest England. "A mountainous area, whose valleys have been modelled by glaciers in the Ice Age and subsequently shaped by an agro-pastoral land-use system characterized by fields enclosed by walls. The combined work of nature and human activity has produced a harmonious landscape in which the mountains are mirrored in the lakes," UNESCO said. Headwate.

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  Valongo Wharf, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The old stone wharf in the former harbour area of Rio de Janeiro was built for the landing of enslaved Africans reaching the South American continent in 1811. An estimated 900,000 Africans arrived in South America via Valongo. AFP Photo / Mauro Pimentel.

TOKYO // An island in Japan where women are banned and male visitors must bathe naked in the sea before going ashore has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The tiny landmass of Okinoshima, once a ritual site for prayers for maritime safety and a window for foreign trade between Japan, Korea and China, is permanently manned by a Shinto priest who prays to the island's goddess; a tradition that has been kept up for centuries.

Limited numbers are permitted to visit the island in the Sea of Japan - this year it was 200 - for a yearly festival that lasts just two hours, but they must adhere to strict rules.

Most importantly, they must be men, but they must also strip off and take a purifying dip in the ocean before they are allowed to set foot on the sacred ground of the shrine.

UNESCO's heritage committee considered 33 sites for the prestigious status at its annual gathering in Poland.

Despite its inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage list -- often the prelude to a leap in tourist numbers -- shrine officials say they are now considering banning future travel for anyone apart from priests, partly out of fears the island could be "destroyed" by too many visitors.

"The island has sometimes been said to ban women, but in principle anyone but the priests who pray there for 365 days a year is barred from entering," said a spokesman.

The ban on female visitors specifically "has nothing to do with discrimination against women," the official told AFP by phone.

It is considered dangerous for women to travel by sea to get to the island and the shrine will not change the centuries-old rule, he said.

"It is meant to protect women, the birth-giving gender," he added.

On Sunday, UNESCO also accepted Taputapuatea, a portion of the "Polynesian Triangle" in the South Pacific thought to be the last part of the globe settled by humans, to the list.

It also added Britain's Lake District -- muse for artists from William Wordsworth to Beatrix Potter -- and the Valongo wharf in Rio de Janeiro where slaves from Africa first arrived in Brazil.

UNESCO's World Heritage list includes over 1,000 sites, monuments and natural phenomena that are of "outstanding universal value" to humankind.

It includes treasures such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Taj Mahal in India, and the rock-carved city of Petra in modern-day Jordan.