On a day trip from Hiroshima, I visited the Iwami Ginzan silver mine. In the 18th century Iwami Ginzan was one of the largest silver mines of the world and a small town grew around it. The mine itself or the shrines for the miners aren't spectacular. The town (Omoricho), though, was nice with plenty of historic wooden houses some of which are open to visitors. In the area, you can manage everything on foot. However, to see the additional components related to the shipping of the silver, you will need some form of transport as these are on the coast.

Iwami Ginzan feels underwhelming compared to other silver mines, e.g. Goslar. Goslar has a huge mine plus many historic mining buildings including the Kaiserpfalz. Even if I compare it to a lesser silver mining site like the Erzgebirge, Iwami Ginzan is tiny. However, maybe that's the key bit here. Japan industrialized late in the 19th century and before that was a feudal, backward society.

Getting There

Main transport hub for the area is Hiroshima (on the East/South coast). The train station is on the main high speed rail line and connects you to all parts of Japan.

From Hiroshima you can catch a daily bus to Odashi on the north/west coast. The bus stops along the way in Iwami Ginzan. Details are found here. Or contact the Hiroshima tourist office for help. The bus at my time of visit had a big banner of the silver mine on its side.

While You Are There

I found Hiroshima to be a very pleasant city and it has two WHS of it's own, the atomic bomb site and Itsukushima. On the western coast, you could travel on to Hagi for some Meiji Industrial sites. Matsue also looks nice, but has no WHS.