Tomioka Silk Mill and other heritage sites related to the silk industry in Gunma Prefecture are to be registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in June. Tomioka Silk Mill was founded by the Meiji government in 1872. The production system was created, by combining French silk production technology and traditional domestic silkworm breeding skills. One of the government’s goals was to give young women mastery of this technology; by recruiting from all over the country, leaders were created in each region. Many of the women workers were from samurai families and their wages were comparatively high. Later Tomioka Silk Mill became privately owned and was in operation until 1987. Between the Meiji and Taisho eras silk made from silkworms was one of Japan’s most important products, comprising of one third of total exports. UNESCO’s advisory body took into account the role the site played in the innovation of silkworm breeding and silk production in the latter half of the 19th century. The number of Japan’s World Heritage Sites will total 18 with this registration. As a cultural heritage it will be listed as 14th, and as an industrial heritage, as second after Iwami Silver Mine. In contrast to the modern Tomioka Silk Mill, published in 1925, “Joko Aishi” (The Sad History of Female Factory Workers) written by HOSOI Wakizo, reported on the harshness of manual labor in the spinning industry. In addition, in 1968 the non-fiction book “Ah Nomugi Touge” (Ah Wild-wheat Pass), written by YAMAMOTO Shigemi, was published; it featured young women from poor farming families working at a silk mill in Suwa, Nagano Prefecture. In 1979 this book was adopted into a movie (director YAMAMOTO Satuso), and the dark side of this industry became widely known to the public. Thus, the silk industry has both light and shadow in its history. However, it could be said that as the cornerstone of Japan’s modern industrialization, Tomika Silk Mill and its related heritage sites makes a good model for people from developing nations to refer to. The number of visitors to Tomioka Silk Mill was 310,000 in 2013, and it is estimated that this will increase to 740,000 after World Heritage registration. (From June issue, 2014 / 2014年6月号より）