Following Mount Fuji, Japan’s “Tomioka Silk Mill” has successfully been inscribed as a World Heritage Site

▲ Japan’s “Tomioka Silk Mill” has successfully been listed as a World Heritage Site, and it is also the country’s first modern industrial heritage. (Photo / fromthe Tomioka Silk Mill fan page)

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

Japan gains another World Heritage Site ! The “Tomioka Silk Mill and Related Industrial Heritage,” which led Japan toward modernization and is known as the “origin of Japanese manufacturing,” was officially designated as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site at the 21st session of the World Heritage Committee held in Qatar on the 21st, becoming Japan’s 18th World Heritage Site.

Built in the 5th year of the Meiji era, the Tomioka Silk Mill is located in Gunma Prefecture. Its well-preserved architecture has been praised by the Japanese government as having “promoted the global development and popularization of silk consumption through mass production of high-quality raw silk.” During the heritage evaluation meeting on the 21st, judges from various countries spoke highly of it, commending it as having “played a decisive role in the silk industry revolution of the early 20th century, and as being key to Japan’s rise as an industrialized nation.”

The day after its confirmation as a World Heritage Site, the Tomioka Silk Mill also saw six times more visitors than usual. The queue of people wanting to see the World Heritage Site stretched 500 meters long. This marks the second consecutive year that Japan has successfully applied for World Heritage status, following Mount Fuji last year. Also successfully inscribed this time was South Korea’s Goguryeo-era fortress, “Namhansanseong.”