Gantuki Tensho Kinko

Making our way up the west coast of the Izu Peninsula, we passed by the town of Toi. Toi is most-famous for its gold mine - it was the second largest gold mine in Japan and was estimated to have produced over 40 tons of gold. Today you can visit a museum to tour the remains of its mine. On Google Maps it’s quite easily found as the Toi Gold Mine, but we somehow ended up bookmarking a different gold mine nearby, known as the Gantuki Tensho Kiko (龕附天正金鉱). We pull up to a tiny parking lot with a reception building, and probably stood outside the car for about 5 minutes debating whether we should go inside (it seemed a little bit dodgy) or whether we should head for the actual museum. I decided we may as well try this one for the experience. Compared to the actual gold mine museum, which I assume has proper exhibits and so on, this one is instead a tiny mine where you get your own guided tour. I’m not going to recommend you take it unless you happen to be a rock enthusiast with…