The Tomioka Silk Mill was established in 1872 amidst Japan's modernization drive to use the latest Western technology to produce silk, processing cocoons into the final product. With private funding difficult to secure, the state built and operated this model factory with foreign directors and female workers to produce quality silk for export.
The factory was privatized in 1893 and operated until 1987 as the industry declined in the country. The city took over the site in 2005 and has been preserved, achieving UNESCO World Heritage status in 2014.
Access is relatively easy on the Joshin Dentetsu Railway, where trains from JR's Takasaki station take you to Joshu-Tomioka station. Then it is a 10 minute walk to the site. You can buy a combination ticket that includes the train ride and admission to the factory.
The East Cocoon Warehouse is over 100m long with cocoons stored on the first floor and offices upstairs. Its founding year is marked on the centre arch - Meiji 5, or 1872.
The first rooms are exhibits that explain the silk production process with a shop on the other side.
Next door, cocoons were unwound into raw silk using 300 machines imported from France. Built in 1872 as the largest mechanical silk-reeling plant in the world at the time, the setup we see today is the exact same as when operations ended in 1987.
One of the government's objectives was to spread machinery silk production around the country. Eventually, the plant was sold to Mitsui in 1893.
On the side are company housing units built in 1919.
The West Cocoon Warehouse underwent conservation in 2020 and is now an exhibition space with a lot of historical items on display. However, photography is restricted inside.
Further service buildings are scattered around the site, including the Chief's house and dormitories.
