In Hachinohe city in Aomori prefecture, there is a place where everything looks miniature.
The truth is a huge limestone mine, which is named Hachinohe canyon.
It is 1800 meters north to south, 1000 meters east to west and minus 170 meters above sea level. It is said to be the deepest limestone mine in Japan. In other words it is the farthest from the sky.
After digging limestone, people deliver it by track from here to nearby places. But for remote areas, limestone are once delivered through pipe under the ground, even under residential area too. They say it is about 10km long. Then they gets together at ports and are delivered by ship or people create cement out of them and then deliver it.
There are some tracks and cranes in the picture. They must be big when you see them up close in person, They all look too small. They looks like miniature cars or toys, right? It means Hachinohe Canyon is so huge.
Usually they dig at noon on weekdays with bomb’s explosion breaking limestone apart, so we cannot visit during that time. There is an actual tire of cranes and tracks next to the observatory. You will be surprised how big it is. It seems to have the diameter of two meter and half.
I hope you will visit there once since they really look like toys!
