Dining Table Size:L its surface worn and marked

its surface worn and marked by years of student projects

built from local hardwood and galvanised iron from the 1850s onward

Faded garments hang on a washing line inside a deteriorating room in the Ogurawa settlement's company housing

It served as a school for eight years

What remains today retains the physical evidence of a production process largely unchanged since the early twentieth century

Dining Table Size:L its surface worn and markedDust coats a dining table and chairs inside a company residence at the Ogurawa settlement, Nichitsu Mining Village, the remote community in Saitama Prefecture that housed the families of Chichibu Mine workers at its peak. The settlement emptied after metal extraction ceased in 1978, with its last permanent resident leaving in September 2006. Part of the Nichitsu Mining Village series.