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 Saga Prefecture)
- Mietsu Naval Dock
Mietsu Naval Dock is the oldest surviving dry dock for shipbuilding in Japan. It was excavated in 2009, thus exposed a metal furnace and a complex timberwork.
From Saga Station, ride a bus bound for Morodomi-Hayatsue and alight at Sanotsunetami Kinenkan Iriguchi. The Mietsu Naval Dock Site is 10 minutes away on foot from the bus stop.
Admission to the adjacent museum (Tsunetami Sano Memorial Museum) including the naval dock, is 300 yen for adults, and 100 yen for children.