Japan’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site is the Sado Kinzan, gold mines. Some basic English available. Interesting to go down into the mountain to see where gold and silver was mined dating back to the Edo Period (1603-1867). The first and second photos show where the mountain was mined.

Stopped by to see the Kitazawa Flotation Plant. Said to resemble Ghibli’s Laputa. Our local guide told us he didn’t think there was a connection with Ghibli. Just that visitors thought there was a resemblance.

The last visit with our hired three-hour taxi was to see the Toki crested ibis (Nipponia Nippon) museum. On our way there our kind driver, Gotō san was so excited to see some ibis in the rice fields. He pulled over to let us take some photos. It was much more fun than the museum, at least for us. ☺️ The last photo is a young crested ibis. Sadly the Japanese crested ibis is extinct. I think these birds came from China.

If you go to Sado be sure to book ahead of time a driver for the three-hour course. Excellent value for ¥21,000 ($150). We talked about so much. Local seafood, oyster farming, rice farming, toki, gold mining, and Sado Island. So much information we would have missed out on had we rented a car.🤣