What a Japanese gold mine says about its approach to history

In late July the mood was celebratory at Aikawa, a town on Sado Island off Japan’s western coast. Hundreds of people cheered as they witnessed, via a live stream, the moment a gold mine in the town was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site. “The islanders’ dream has finally come true,” said Watanabe Ryugo, the mayor. The moment also hinted at the possible thawing of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea.

The Sado mine is 400 years old. But when discussing it government officials tend to focus on the Edo period (1603-1868), arguing that the site’s uniqueness lies in the mining techniques that developed while Japan shut its borders under the sakoku, or “closed country”, policy. This ignores the ugly side of its history. During the second world war, Japan’s empire forced at least 1,500 Koreans to work at the mine. The Japanese government downplays this, as it does other wartime atrocities, such as the Korean sex slaves (or “comfort women”) who were forced to work in Japan’s military brothels.

David Palmer, a historian at the University of Melbourne in Australia, highlights the significance of the Sado mine in Japan’s empire-building. Mitsubishi, a conglomerate, purchased the mine at the end of the 19th century. Sado gold was exchanged for Western weapons, aiding Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese war. “To simply reduce this site to a kind of antique craft display from the Edo era is ridiculous,” says Mr Palmer.

At the highly choreographed UNESCO meeting on July 27th, South Korea’s delegation said it approved of the addition, as Japan said it would accept their request to tell “both the bright and dark side” of the mine’s history through exhibitions.

After the meeting, an exhibition was immediately set up in Sado to show how Korean workers fared at the mine. But while describing the “harsh conditions” they worked under, it did not use the term “forced labour”. The new exhibition “only reaffirms the government’s existing stance” by playing down the coercive nature of the work, says Takeuchi Yasuto, a historian. In South Korea, activists and opposition politicians criticised the government of Yoon Suk Yeol, the president, for conceding to Japan. Despite the fanfare on Sado, Japan and South Korea’s rifts over the war are far from resolved. ■