THE IWAMI-GINZAN SILVER MINE RUINS

On 27th July 2007 the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee decided to register the remains of a silver mine in western Japan on the World Heritage List. It is the nation's first industrial site to receive the honor although Japan already has 13 other sites on the List. The site involves the ruins of a silver mine dug between the 16th and 20th centuries, and covers 442.5 hectares. About one third of silver circulating in the world in the early 17th century was reportedly from Japan. At that time, most of Japan-dug silver was from the Iwami mine.