After the Meiji Restoration, the new Government adopted a policy of ‘Rich Nation, Strong Army’ to catch up with the west. The policy consisted of developing unused land and launching various industories. Among these industries, mining had an important role.
In this study, we focused on a mining town called Kosaka which was one of the three big mining centers in Japan throughout Meiji period. How did this tiny, sleeping hamlet in Akita prefecture grew into a modern city with such infrastructures as housing, rail-roads, water, electricity, hospital and theaters. Our study shows that the modernization of Kosaka was part of an industrial evolution which was promoted by Meiji Govement at the beginning and later on by private enterprise.
