According to UNESCO's website, the site testifies the successful transfer of Western Industrialization to a non-Western nation. From the middle of the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, Japan was in the rapid industrialization, supported by the key industrial sectors such as shipbuilding, iron and steel, and coal mining.
If the specific sites can speak, it can tell us how Japan has achieved its technological superpower from its humble beginnings-- from trial and error experimentation aided by Western textbooks, followed by the importation of Western technology, until the full-blown industrialization where the Japanese were able to actively adapt the Western technology suited to their needs.
The Sites of Industrial Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding, and Coal Mining, scattered in eight prefectures in Japan, was designated as UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 5, 2015.
Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining (the Component Parts in Fukuoka Prefecture):
(Miike)
-Miike Coal Mine
-Miike Port
-Misumi West Port
(Yawata)
-The Imperial Steel World, Japan
-Onga River Pumping Station
(To Miike Coal Mines)
From Omuta Station, ride a bus heading to Ariake Kosen-mae and alight at Hayagane Meganebashi. It is about 10 minutes walk away from the entrance of Miyanohara Coal Mine.
To Manda Coal Mine, take a bus that directs to Kurakake, and alight at Kanda.
Manda Coal Mine is open daily except for Mondays, from 9:30-17:30 for 410 yen. Admission costs 410 yen.
Miyanohara coal mine is open daily, from 10:00- 17:00 with no entrance fee.