Factory night view cruises in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, are recently attracting visitors from across the nation. While the city's tourism association hopes the tour will help make the city become a major tourist destination, people who suffered from industrial pollution in the 1960s say they don't want the negative history to be forgotten.
One day in late November, participants of a night cruise in Yokkaichi were enthusiastically taking pictures of intricately tangled pipe-work and steam trailing from chimneys glowing in the dark on the riverbanks.
"It looks like Disneyland," said a woman who joined the 90-minute tour on a 24.5-meter-long boat for 125 passengers.