Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining
The site encompasses a series of twenty three
component parts, mainly located in the southwest of Japan. It bears
testimony to the rapid industrialization of the country from the middle
of the 19th century to the early 20th
century, through the development of the iron and steel industry,
shipbuilding and coal mining. The site illustrates the process by which
feudal Japan sought technology transfer from Europe and America from the
middle of the 19th century and how this
technology was adapted to the country’s needs and social traditions. The
site testifies to what is considered to be the first successful
transfer of Western industrialization to a non-Western nation.