The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has decided to add the Tomioka Silk Mill, a historic factory in Gunma Prefecture symbolizing 19th-century Japan's efforts to catch up with the industrialized West, to the World Cultural Heritage list. We welcome this decision as the mill sheds light on an important period in Japan's modern history.
The designation of the mill and related facilities as the 18th World Heritage location in Japan — and the nation's first modern industrial heritage site — has raised hopes in the city of Tomioka and Gunma Prefecture that the mill will become a popular tourist attraction. Priority should be given to preserving the buildings used for cocoon warehouses and a silk-reeling plant as well as the detailed records related to the mill and the modern development of Japan's sericulture and silk industry.
The Meiji government built the mill in 1872 as a model factory by incorporating French technologies. It was later sold to a private company. The buildings combine red-brick and iron-sash construction — symbols of Western civilization — with pantile roofing and wooden timbers of Japanese origin.
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