Besshi Copper Mine – The Machu Picchu of the Orient…?

What?
The Besshi Copper Mine (別子銅山) was a great source of wealth that was exploited from 1691 until 1973. Now only spotty remains are left on the mountainside with the ruins of the Tohnaru (東来) mining village - better known as the Machu Picchu of the Orient - as highlight. The village can be visited with a guide as part of the Minetopia Besshi theme park. Other than the guided tour it offers a short train ride to a mining tunnel where mannequins display mine works. And there are several side activities not necessarily connected with mining. The Suiha Highland (翠波高原) is a small plain high in the mountains that’s most known for its flower beds – in the right season of course.
Where?
Minetopia Besshi is located in Niihama City (新居浜) in Ehime Prefecture. From Niihama Station there are a few buses bound for the park, but they are so irregular and ill-timed that you are better off using one of the 400 free parking spots to place your rental car.
URL
Visit Ehime (Minetopia Besshi) Minetopia Besshi (JP) Visit Ehime (Suiha Kogen)

The Machu Picchu of the Orient, now doesn’t that sounds nice?
Complete bullshit of course.
But marketing wise… well it seems to work as a lot of people heard of Minetopia Besshi under its moniker. And yes, me too.

It’s hard to describe Minetopia Besshi. It’s a historical site turned theme park turned onsen.
I think.
I wanted to see the ruins of the mining town at 750 meters altitude, but everything connected with the mine is spread over several spots. There is the museum in Niihama City (that I did not visit), there is the small theme park located next to a big shed classified as important cultural property (the shed was under construction and thus not accessible) – this area is called Hadeba (端出場), there are the ruins of the mining town – the area called Tohnaru and even further up the mountain there are several ruins of the mine to be discovered (but only accessible by a 2 hour walk).

Upon arriving at the Hadeba area it seemed to me that the whole park needed a makeover very urgently. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the place was fun. A small train gets you to a mine shaft where mannequins depict the work in the mine. There is an “experience” area for kids, but adults shouldn’t be shy to try out. The river flowing through the area makes for a great scenery. Really, I didn’t have anything to complain about. But everything is old, overgrown, broken in some parts. When that small tour was finished people starting flocking in though, but mainly for the onsen and the facilities for kids. I took a quick look and could see where all the money went. The onsen is quite impressive and modern, the play space for kids nothing less than spectacularly big.

But whatever. I was there mainly for the Tohnaru area, a 30 minute bus ride away. It’s possible to get to the ruins by your own car, but the road is really small and dangerous so I recommend to leave the drive to an experienced chauffeur. Additionally, the guide that came along had some real interesting stories. He lived in the town when he was a child and could tell more than the old stone ruins. I was also very lucky with the weather and had a perfect view on the nearby Seto Inland Sea.

Minetopia Besshi and the Tohnaru area are very interesting. I found it less impressive than the Sado Kinzan gold mine or Gunkanjima, but if you’re in Shikoku than I do think it’s worth a visit. One point of criticism though is the absolute lack of English signage, even on their homepage.

The entrance to the theme park.

Some old material on display.

A small train rides you through a mine tunnel.

Does this look like Machu Picchu?

After leaving the park I had some time and energy left so I quickly googled and decided to take a quick drive to Suiha Highland (Suiha Kogen). The highland itself is known for its flower beds, but of course it’s the wrong season for that. That being said, the flower bed area was really small and absolutely not impressive. The play area for kids was so decrepit that I wouldn’t even let my imaginary kids get close to it.
On the other hand, the ride here went through the Hoo Tunnel (法皇トンネル) which is only wide enough for one car despite a length of 1663m, so getting through is quite an adventure. Right after exiting this tunnel there is the Mizugataki Waterfall (水ヶ滝) which I thought pretty enough to stop the car. And above all, the view from the highland was spectacular.