Day 12 in Japan: The Silkworms of Tomioka
On my twelfth day of travelling across Japan, Brent, Joel and I visited Tomioka Silk Mill. The factory was established at the dawn of the Meiji restoration in 1872 as part of Japan’s effort to acquire money for industrialisation. Japan had already been producing copious amounts of silk before the Meiji restoration, with raw silk and silkworm cocoons accounting for 86% of its exports in 1862 – a situation greatly aided by the chaos of the Taiping Rebellion in China and a silkworm disease ravaging France and Italy. In the 1870s, however, overproduction and the recovery of Japan’s competitors in the silk market caused a collapse in raw silk prices. Japan then decided to refocus on silk products such as silk thread and silk cloth, enlisting European specialists to help construct Japan’s first silk mill.