After 82 years, the Taiheiyo coal mine in Kushiro, Japan, has shut its doors. The closure, and with it, the loss of about 1,000 jobs, is attributed to high production costs and cheap imports.
Kushiro was one of hundreds of mining communities that sprang up in the early 20th century as the Japanese government turned to coal and other fossil fuels to aid in industrial expansion. Coal also helped power the recovery of a nation devastated by the Second World War and helped sustain its postwar growth. But by the late 1960s, Japan’s mines were dying off. Falling global coal prices, competition from overseas, tougher environmental and safety regulations and the switch to cheaper, cleaner fuels conspired to hurt industry profits.
At their peak in 1940, Japanese mines produced 56 million tons of coal, and employed roughly 450,000 people. By 2000, the remaining two domestic mines produced only 3 million tons and employed just 2,500 people.
Taiheiyo’s mine produced about 2.6 million tons of coal at its peak in 1977, but within a few years output dropped sharply. Last year, it dwindled to just 1.2 million tons.
By the end of last year, this was Japan’s only remaining coal mine following the closure of the Ikeshima mine in the southwestern Nagasaki region.
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