The Tomioka silk mill was one of the earliest and most major silk reeling factories to be established in Meiji period Japan, pioneering a shift in the Japanese silk industry towards the widespread use of modern/Western techniques and technologies. Located in Gunma prefecture, the mill is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A strike conducted by the silk mill's workers in 1898 is oft-cited as a notable example of the grueling labor practices of the time, and the beginnings of a modern labor movement in Japan.
