The main Japan islands of Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu have at least six distinct epithermal gold provinces hosting greater than 70 historically producing gold mines. Prior to World War II, the five largest mines produced over 1M ounces of gold with the largest producing over 2.5M ounces.

The government imposed the closure of gold mines during World War II to redeploy the labour force into other sectors with limited production post-World War II. Although a few mines reopened after WWII, by the early 1980s, there was virtually no commercial gold production in the country.