Japan used to be one of the most gold-productive countries. Sado goldmine is very famous and one of the tourist spots in Japan. It was the only goldmine in Japan as far as I had known, but the second one existed in the Izu Peninsula. That's today's destination, Toi goldmine, around which a hot spa town was formed. When I was planning this trip, I knew the goldmine and found time to stay at the goldmine ruin park for some time. A part of an underground tunnel was used as an amusement walkway, along which the old atmosphere was brought back. In the times of poor ventilation, lighting, and transportation methods, their labor would have been unthinkably hard work. In the adjacent museum, I saw the Guinness-listed worldwide biggest gold bar, whose price was 1,239,000,000 yen, or US$ 11,000,000 by the rate of Aug. 28th. After the museum tour, I put up at a traditional Japanese-style hotel, Ryokan in Japanese. We enjoyed great local seafood with local sake.
When I took a walk along the seaside before dinner, I saw a ferry heading out for Shimizu port. I was going to get on it the next morning. I prayed for clear weather for the next day, because if the weather was nice, I would be able to see the beautiful magnificent view of Mt. Fuji from the ocean.
土肥金山
日本はかつて世界でも指折りの金の産出国だった。有名なのは佐渡島の金山であるが、伊豆半島にも金山が存在し、その産出規模は佐渡島に次ぐ量であった。この旅行を計画するときにそのことを知り、是非とも鉱山跡へ寄ってみようと思った。鉱山は一部開放され観光客が内部を歩けるようになっていた。換気装置も照明も不十分な時代、劣悪な環境の中での労働だったことが容易に想像できた。土肥金山跡は坑道跡を利用したテーマパークのようになっており、ギネス認定世界最大の金の延べ棒が展示されていて直接触れることも出来た。ここでしばらく遊んだ後、今日の宿はかなり古風な日本旅館。地元で獲れた海の幸をいただいた。夕食前に海岸を散歩すると翌朝乗る予定のフェリーが出港していった。この船は土肥港から清水港へ向けて駿河湾を横断する。もし、快晴で波が穏やかだったら富士山の美しい姿を撮影できるはず。
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