Relatively recent history

Every time I travel overseas, it's a reminder how young a nation, and culture, the U.S. is. Near the end of our stay in Japan, our hosts scheduled a slight detour to one of Japan's National Historic Sites, the Tomioka Silk Mill. (It had recently been named to the World Heritage List.)

Set up by the new Meiji government in its third year (1870), after centuries of Japanese isolation, the mill introduced machine silk-reeling and marked "the modernization of Japanese industry" and the beginning of the modern factory system in Japan. You can read plenty more of the Tomioka Silk Mill's history on the Internet, but as always, visiting the site itself was a deeply moving experience.

The facility was designed and built largely by a bunch of French engineers (after all, that was the market for the silk). Quite an engineering (and social) feat.

A dual station for boiling the cocoons.

A graphical explanation of how the silk is made into thread.

Rows and rows of machinery that operated until 1995, now preserved under plastic covers.

The cocoon delivery system, via overhead tracks and hoppers.

Two from our group take in the historical record.

Leaving the silk factory, I noticed lunch being delivered to one of the locals. It's not exactly the Dominos pizza car. I wish I had captured a before shot, but this shows the ingenious gimballed rig that keeps the food from sloshing about.

After visiting the silk factory, we had a tour of the Oki manufacturing facility that is also in Tomioka. Once upon a time I had an Okidata LED printer that was a fine piece of economical technology, so it was nice to visit the place from which it came.

One of the things that's always interesting on these factory tours are the requirements for entry. In this case, we all donned white lab coats and slippers, which I presume must have been anti-static or something like that. There's a first time for everything.