Iwate Travelogue (9) - What did I dig up at the only museum in northern Tohoku where you can mine amber in Japan!?-

Finally, I am leaving the Kitakami Highlands and heading toward Kuji.

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Whenever I use a car-sharing service, the tank is always full, so I rarely worry about running out of gas.

However, today was different. I was out of gas.

I was in the Kitakami Highlands. I had been driving along the Karumai-Kunohe line and the Toromachi-Karumai line for quite a while, but I hadn't seen a single gas station. The road finally split at the Kuji River, and even after turning left onto National Route 281 and heading north, all I could see was the lush nature on the 9 o'clock side. The sense of relief I felt when I descended the mountain and saw the townscape was indescribable.

To the Kuji Amber Museum at last!

After refueling, I headed to my long-awaited destination: the Kuji Amber Museum.

It is located on top of a small hill. I had assumed it was a single building, but it is actually divided into several. In addition to the new and old buildings, there is also a Lithuania Pavilion. I wondered why, and it turns out Lithuania is a major amber-producing region.

Lithuanian amber is often called Baltic amber.

I thought amber was just whiskey-colored pine resin, but it turns out there are different colors like cherry amber, and it comes from both coniferous and broad-leaved trees.

Like jade, amber was apparently transported to the Yamato Imperial Court to be made into magatama beads, and amber from Kuji has been found in Yamato. It is truly amazing that they were able to craft magatama out of it at all.

I was able to experience it even in the rain!

First of all, you cannot mine outside in the rain. I had half-given up, but it turns out they allow you to mine by breaking open stones they have brought down from the mountain.

I paid the fee, and they spread the stones out on a blue tarp for me.

Looking at this, you might think you need to smash it with a ⛏️ or a 🔨, but you actually don't use any tools. You use your 🖐️.

Crushing 90-million-year-old stones

I listened to the staff's explanation. Kuji is a dinosaur kingdom. Insects that were drawn to fallen trees sometimes remain trapped in the amber, and besides amber, they sometimes find dinosaur claws, teeth, and turtle shells.

After that, you hold the stone with both hands and bend it. Crunch! You crush the stone with your fists. Crunch!

What a way to relieve stress. After working 20 days in a row and still not being able to keep up, working until 11 PM every day this week, I must have been stressed, because it felt strangely satisfying.

I forgot about the amber and just kept smashing rocks. I felt a little guilty about crushing something 90 million years old.

Amber discovery

"Hmm, this is it!"

It's a rock.

"Hmm! This is it!"

It's a rock.

I kept repeating this exchange with the staff.

Before long, I saw something yellow in a rock I had split. This is it!

"It's amber."

Yes!!!

You might think that, but in terms of size, it was about a quarter of a grain of rice, barely visible to the naked eye.

As I kept breaking rocks, several pieces like this appeared. Since it's raw stone, it's not beautifully shaped or sparkling. Just some irregular yellow things came out. They didn't have much luster either.

Micro-amber pieces appeared one after another. While wondering if there was anything that looked more like amber, I kept digging for the romance of it.

In the end, I was able to dig up a few thin, amber-like pieces in the 5mm range. I was very happy. This is the real thrill of mining.

Because I had been squatting for nearly an hour, my shins were incredibly sore the next day, but I still felt like I hadn't had enough. I guess I really enjoyed it. It's about the process, not the result.

Maybe that's why I seriously considered buying this at the shop. The high-end one was about 3,000 yen.

Anyway, the activity of "applying force," which I don't usually do, was quite good. I realized that I don't really apply much force in office work.

After that, there were many places I wanted to see, but I took a quick look at the new building and drove off.

Because there are still sights to see in Kuji.

"Mogranpia Aquarium." This place looks amazing.

The combination of a mole and an aquarium might seem nonsensical at first glance, but it is an incredible place where you can actually view the ocean from inside a tunnel despite it being an aquarium.

It seems that the northernmost ama divers also perform depending on the time. This looks like fun.

With that said, I wrapped things up early and headed toward Kuji Station.

To be continued in the next installment, 'I didn't make it to Mogranpia edition'