Ashio Copper Mine Remains

Ashio Copper Mine is in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture. There is a museum offering tours inside the Ashio Copper Mine, which once flourished as the #1 mine in Japan.
Ashio Copper Mine was a giant copper mine with a 400-year history. After the closing of the mine, a part of the tunnels were repaired and opened for viewing from the inside.  First, you will ride a minecart train and enter an approximately 700 m-long tunnel. Inside the mine, lifelike mannequins model how people worked inside the mine.
At the Ashio Copper Mine ruins there are 3 museums, which includes the Copper Museum, which exhibits how to refine copper from ore. If you visit all 3, you could learn about the history of the modernization of Japan.