PHNOM PENH: The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the Embassy of Japan in Cambodia have announced that the Government of Japan is initiating a new support project, equivalent to a donation of US $520,847, for the restoration of the Bayon temple in the historic site of Angkor.

In 1994, the Government of Japan formed the Japanese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor (JSA), headed by Professor Emeritus from Waseda University, Dr. Takeshi Nakagawa, through UNESCO Japan's Funds in Trust for the Preservation of World Cultural Heritage project.

JSA has spent approximately US $27 million from the first to the fifth phase of this project, on the conservation and restoration of Angkor Wat and Bayon temple. Since the third phase in 2005, JSA and the APSARA Authority have been participating in the project together as Japan-APSARA Safeguarding Angkor (JASA). In April 2022, the sixth phase of the project began to mainly survey and work on the stabilization of the Central Tower of Bayon temple.

The Japanese Embassy and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts hope that this new support project will contribute to the smooth conservation and restoration of Bayon temple, one of the most important temples in the Angkor Wat temple complex.