Toi Gold Museum, Mining museum in Toi, Izu, Japan
The Toi Gold Museum is a mining museum in Toi, Izu, Japan, located on the grounds of a former gold mine. Exhibits display ore samples, traditional tools, and mining techniques, while visitors can also explore an underground tunnel and try gold panning activities.
The Toi gold mine operated during the Edo period and remained active until closure in 1965, producing significant quantities of the precious metal. Mining in this region shaped economic development across multiple centuries.
The museum presents mining traditions through automated dolls in a 400-meter tunnel, showing how both men and women worked side by side during operations and what their daily tasks involved.
Underground tunnels are open to visitors, and gold panning is an activity you can do on-site. Wearing comfortable shoes is recommended since you will walk through cool tunnels where conditions remain similar throughout the year.
The museum houses a massive gold bar weighing around 250 kilograms, recognized as one of the largest ever manufactured of its kind. This monumental treasure draws many visitors and sits within reach of other exhibition pieces.
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