FAQs FAQ

The Centre is open from 10:00 to 17:00. The last admission is available by 16:30 and is closed on Saturdays, Sundays, Public Holidays and a period from December 29th to January 3rd.

Yes, it is free of charge.

It takes about 5 minutes by foot from "Kawada-guchi Exit" of "Wakamatsu-Kawada Station" on Toei Oedo Line. The signboard "Industrial Heritage Information Centre" is set next to the black iron gate that leads to the premise of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Please refer to ACCESS.

No parking space is available for vehicles, including bicycles and automobiles. Please access the Centre by foot.

Yes. Please book via www.ihic.jp

Please book via booking.ihic.jp

Yes, it is free of charge. Currently, guidance is only available in Japanese.

The Centre offers audio guidance in English and Korean. If you want it, please let us know when booking. The Centre also plans to offer some materials in foreign languages.

As of now, the Centre offers 3 slots of "2-hour-guided tour" per day.

The Centre was established as a comprehensive information centre for the World Cultural Heritage Site, "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining (inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2015 by the 39th UNESCO World Heritage Committee) " , as well as a "think-tank" on other industrial heritage sites to educate and raise awareness of the public.

The Centre is zoned from 1 to 3. Zone 1 plays an introductory role as "Invitation to 'Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution'"; Zone 2 details Japan's rapid industrialization as "Path toward an Industrial State"; and, Zone 3 is Reference Room.

[ZONE 1] It presents (1) an overview of the "Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution" and (2) the process leading to the inscription of the sites as a World Heritage site by panels. In addition, (3) a panoramic multi-display platform introduces the full history of each of the 23 component parts located across 11 cities in 8 prefectures, and (4) at the Theater, it offers a video showing the long and challenging nomination process of becoming a World Heritage site.

[ZONE 2] It consists of five sections: (1) Early attempts under the Isolation Strategy, (2) Shipbuilding, (3) Iron and Steel, (4) Coal Mining, and (5) Industrialization. The phases in which Japan developed into an industrial state in just half a century, from the late Edo period to the Meiji period, are described. In addition, explanation is offered through video of interviews with foreign experts. At the information search table centrally located in the Zone, 6 tablets detail information on the "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution".

[ZONE 3] Reference Room has digital equipment that offers various information via display monitors and multi-display platform. A wide variety of primary source materials on industrial labor and others are accessible.

Liquid Galaxy (LG) is a panoramic multi-display platform that offers 3D images applying both old/new photos/maps of each of the 23 component parts contributing to the World Heritage values. New programs are to be uploaded on a regular basis.

The Centre will inform of it when it is ready.

Sorry, it is not permitted due to copyright.

Sorry, ordinary pets are not allowed.

Yes, there is a ramp leading to the entrance.

Yes. Please ask at the Reception.

Sorry, this is not allowed, although you may drink water in the reception area.

Sorry, there is no plan for this.

The black stands for "furnaces", and, the red stands for "burning flames in furnaces". The symbol as a whole stands for "passion for the industrialization of Japan from the end of the Edo era to the Meiji era (1850s-1910).