Poor planning? Engineering gone wrong? Unconventional street decor? Whatever the explanation, this quiet residential street in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward boasts perhaps the highest manhole density in town, with 85 of them scattered along a 200-meter stretch of pavement. Fans of the curious street call it “Manhole Ginza.”
[Link: Google Maps]
Related: Japanese manhole covers
Photographer Shintaro Sato captures beauty in the chaotic Tokyo cityscape viewed from emergency staircases at dusk. Check his site for the full gallery of high-resolution images.
[Link: Tokyo Twilight Zone]
See also:
- Suburban Tokyo nightscapes
- Highway interchange photos
- Fantastic Japanscapes
Near Tappi Saki, Aomori (Photo: Mr_M_Montgomery)
Hit the beach anywhere in Japan, and you are likely to see endless piles of tetrapods — enormous four-legged concrete structures intended to prevent coastal erosion. By some estimates, more than 50% of Japan’s 35,000-kilometer (22,000-mi) coastline has been altered with tetrapods and other forms of concrete. Critics, who blame the tetrapod invasion on decades of excessive government spending designed to bolster the construction industry, argue that in addition to posing a danger to swimmers, surfers and boaters, tetrapods actually accelerate beach erosion by disrupting the natural processes that shape the coastal environment. Meanwhile, others have developed an aesthetic appreciation of the tetrapod landscape, as evidenced by a host of stunning Japanese tetrapod photos on Flickr.
Location unknown (Photo: saksak)
Location unknown (Photo: f l u x)
Kawasaki (Photo: gullevek)
Kobe (Photo: Joshua Richley)
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka (Photo: seotaro)
Yakushima (Photo: TommyOshima)
River bank, Shikoku (Photo: kodama)
Amarube (Photo: shikihan)
Tetrapod molds — Location unknown (Photo: Toru Aihara)
Location unknown (Photo: electricnude)
Location unknown (Photo: takay)
Location unknown (Photo: saksak)
[Images: Flickr photos tagged “Tetrapod” & “Tetrapods“//Further reading: Japan Times, Wikipedia]
These fantastic photoshopped images by Tokyo Genso (Tokyo Fantasy) show a post-apocalyptic Tokyo overtaken by nature.
Shibuya
Akihabara
Shinjuku
Shibuya Center-gai 1
Shibuya Center-gai 2
Shibuya Center-gai 3
[Link: Tokyo Fantasy]
Related:
- Neo-Ruins: Lithographs of post-apocalyptic Tokyo (Hisaharu Motoda)
- Mickey the Knight (Kenji Yanobe)
- PET bottle armor (Kosuke Tsumura)
Photographer Sato Jun Ichi explores the architecture of Japan’s flood control infrastructure in a huge collection of photographs taken over a period of 10+ years.
Ibaraki, 1997
Tochigi, 2006 // Saitama, 2007
Saitama, 1999
Chiba, 1997
Saitama, 1999
Saitama, 2006
Saitama, 2006 // Saitama, 2007
Ibaraki, 1998
Saitama, 1998
Miyagi, 1998
Visit Sato’s Floodgates site for about 600 more photos. (Use the links at the top left to scroll through the 37 galleries.) There is also a book.
This photo snapped by Aomori-based blogger Pochiko shows remnants of the JAL logo still visible in this year’s Inakadate rice paddy art, several days after organizers attempted to “erase” it.
Read more: JAL logo uprooted from rice paddy art
Has Japan Airlines’ crop-based advertising gone too far? For some residents of Inakadate — a small town with a big reputation for cultivating fantastic works of multi-colored rice paddy art — the answer is “yes.”
This year’s crop art, which is Inakadate’s 16th work since 1993, features giant images of Daikoku (god of wealth) and Ebisu (god of fishers and merchants) alongside the corporate logo for sponsor Japan Airlines (JAL). Here are a few photos of the rice paddy taken in June from the 6th-floor roof of the adjacent town hall.
Daikoku (left), Ebisu (right) and JAL logo
The town committee responsible for the annual crop art project decided to incorporate advertising into this year’s work to help offset rising costs associated with increased numbers of visitors. Last year more than 240,000 people came to see the crop art, and many of them used the town hall bathrooms and elevators (there is a nice view of the rice paddy from the roof), resulting in a costly utility bill.
However, the owner of the rice field, Ryuji Sato — who also happens to be the former mayor of Inakadate and a member of the committee — thinks the ad stinks. At the end of June he demanded the corporate logo be removed from his property.
“The idea has always been to create art that attracts lots of visitors and stimulates the economy,” says Sato. “Turning it into a giant advertisement contradicts what we set out to do.”
After a week of heated discussion, the committee voted to pull the ad, and on the morning of July 4, town hall employees were dispatched to the field to uproot the rice plants that make up the JAL logo. TV crews were on the scene. (Watch a Fuji TV news report.)
The video shows people removing rice plants only from the area occupied by the JAL symbol, which creates a very conspicuous negative space in the field. Ironically, this makes the logo more visible. It remains to be seen whether they can successfully remove all traces of the ad.
Town hall employees remove JAL logo
Sato’s critics are skeptical of his motives. Because he is on the ballot for this autumn’s upcoming mayoral election, some believe he is trying to draw attention to his candidacy. Others think he may be taking revenge for the bitter 2004 mayoral election loss that removed him from office. Sato dismisses the criticism, saying that if he really wanted revenge, he would not have allowed the art to be grown in his field in the first place.
“I just can’t stand the fact that they are trying to turn this into a commercial venture,” says Sato, who hopes to see the rice paddy art tradition continue as it has in the past.
Meanwhile, the Aomori-based marketing agency that coordinated the advertising agreement with JAL does not know what to make of the situation. A company spokesperson says, “We obtained the committee’s approval and signed a formal agreement, but yet it has come to this. We are baffled.”
[Sources: Inakadate Village, To-o Nippo]
Rice-growing season has only just begun, but this year’s first crop of rice paddy art, which is created by planting various colors of rice in the field, has already started to emerge.
In the Yamagata prefecture town of Yonezawa, an image of 16th-17th century samurai Naoe Kanetsugu has appeared in a field near the Onogawa hot spring. The samurai, whose image is based on a portrait housed at the nearby Uesugi Museum, appears along with a pair of fireflies and the kanji characters for “Love” and “Tenchijin,” the name of an NHK drama about Naoe Kanetsugu that will air next year. The rice will be harvested in October.
This year marks the third time that crop art has been grown in Yonezawa. Here are a few photos of works from the past two years.
2007
2007
2007
2006
In recent years, a growing number of local governments around Japan have started organizing rice paddy art projects as a way to attract tourists and educate people about rice farming. Look for more rice paddy art to crop up in the coming weeks.
[Photos: Asahi, chosasi_Bkyu]
Photographer Ken Ohyama has a magnificent Flickr photoset of highway interchanges in Japan (78 photos).
Hakozaki Junction
Hokko Junction
Hokko Junction
Tempozan Junction
Daikoku Junction
Kawaguchi Junction
He also has a book of these photographs.
In this video, a camera crew follows a city official to a trapdoor hidden in a Tokyo sidewalk, which opens to a narrow stairway leading to a giant underground warehouse stocked with emergency supplies. (Watch it.)
Located 20 meters (65 ft) underground, the 1,480 square meter (16,000 sq ft) space contains emergency supplies to be distributed to the public in the event of a major earthquake. Items include 5,000 blankets, 8,000 rugs, 4,000 candles, 300 cooking pots, 200 t-shirts, and emergency medical supplies. A conveyor belt system is installed to help transport the supplies up to street level.
The underground warehouse is connected to an unnamed station on the Oedo line, Tokyo’s deepest subway. Apparently, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government maintains more than one of these warehouses, but the locations are kept secret.
