Sivakasi is an industrial town in the Virudhunagar district of southern Tamil Nadu, about 60 kilometres north of Tirunelveli. It has one of the most unlikely specialisations in India: the town and its surrounding villages produce roughly 90% of the country's fireworks and safety matches, and are also a major centre for offset printing. The combination has given Sivakasi the nickname "Mini Japan" — not for any resemblance to Japan, but because it earned that tag as a tribute to its industrial ambition.
The fireworks industry is visible everywhere. Warehouses and small factories line the roads in and out of town, and in the weeks before Diwali the air has a charged, slightly smoky quality as production intensifies. The industry is significant but the working conditions have historically been poor; child labour was a serious problem for decades, and while government pressure and NGO monitoring have made improvements, the issue is not fully resolved.
The printing industry is the other side of Sivakasi's economy. The town prints a significant proportion of India's calendars, posters, packaging, and stationery, and hundreds of presses operate in and around town.
There is not much conventional tourism here, but the town offers a vivid industrial-India experience quite different from the temple circuit. Sivakasi sits on the rail line between Madurai and Tirunelveli, making it easy to include on a wider tour of southern Tamil Nadu.