What Japan is really like
Topic: Concrete Japan

Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Modern Japan
by Alex Kerr

Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub (February 10, 2002) ISBN: 0809039435
"A woman named Kato Shidzue, writing on her hundredth birthday in The Japan Times, lamented: `There must be many foreigners who come to Japan full of dreams about the country`s scenery after having read Lafcadio Hearn only to be surprised and upset at the sight of the Japanese so heartlessly destroying their own beautiful and unparalleled cultural legacy.` Sadly Ms. Kato is wrong. One looks in vain in the foreign media for expressions of surprise or conern at what has happened to Kyoto. It would seem that Western visitors fail to distinguish-perhaps it is parts of their condescension toward Asia- between well-preserved tourist sites and a thoroughly unpleasant city-scape. The fact that Kyoto has nice gardens on its periphery is enough to make them overlook the unwelcoming mass of glass and concrete cubes in the rest of the city."

Another concrete example of Tokyo life
Topic: Concrete Japan

Hmm, concrete's not so bad after all.
Topic: Concrete Japan

"Sometimes when I go home, and I'm standing in the three-chins-or-less line at Walmart, I think, hmm, concrete's not so bad after all."

--dingosatemybaby

Tokyo in it's true glory
Topic: Concrete Japan

Via GRACE.tc

The concreting of Tokyo's Mt Takao & strict Buddhist doctrines
Topic: Concrete Japan

Who prefers concrete and cars to Tokyo's natural gem?
The legal fight goes on to save sacred Mount Takao
By KEN KAWASHIMA, Special to The Japan Times; July 29, 2004
....The entire mountain [of Tokyo's Mount Takao] and its wildlife is being threatened by a tunnel project spearheaded by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry that is part of a grandiose plan to build a 300-km road around Tokyo called the Ken-odo.... to shave minutes off journey times, two 10-meter-wide tunnels are planned to be blasted through Mount Takao's core.....
Meanwhile, up until now, one key reason that has ensured Mount Takao's forests remained in their natural state was the 1,200-year-old Yakuoin Temple' strict Buddhist doctrines forbidding the destruction of any wildlife on Mount Takao, whether animal or vegetable. During the feudal era, Yoshiyama even says the felling of a tree was a crime punishable by beheading.
....[Yakuoin] temple spokesperson put it last week: "We cannot take sides in matters of conflict, whether it be a war or the dispute over a new road. We must always remain neutral."

Japanese love-of-nature at their garbage beaches
Topic: Concrete Japan
Long ago during my first Endoshima (aka Garbage Island) swim, I managed to get a mouthful of dead cat as well as being covered with green oily dioxin film.

Losing battle being fought to keep Kanagawa beaches clean
The Japan Times: July 2, 2004
FUJISAWA, Kanagawa Pref. -- It's almost 5 a.m. and the sky is warming as the sun rolls up to burst open the horizon. The pacific rhythm of the ocean waves dominates the soundscape of the virtually deserted beach.
For Atsuko Sakurai, a local surfer, this is the best time of day to pursue her passion. She strides excitedly onto the beach, but her glee fades quickly into quiet dismay as she steps around the minefield of cracked bottles, smashed cans and other assorted trash.
Seeing such a messy beach, Sakurai can only sigh.
Summer is officially here and it's the season when piles of trash from weekend parties at the beach welcome early morning surfers and trouble the residents. The ocean debris is a serious environmental issue for Kanagawa Prefecture's popular beaches, and the condition gets only worse as summer wears on....
_________________
モ?ベッタ...DEATH for DUMBO!

SHAMELESS LIE:
Topic: Concrete Japan
Ancient cedar trees suffer at hands of tourists
(Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, June 28, 2004)
NARA -- Cedar trees in a mountainous area expected to be named part of the World Heritage are suffering bark damage as tourists flock to the area to walk among the ancient giants... more than 1,000 years old, the trees are located in Tamaki Shrine in Totsukawa, Nara Prefecture, which is known as a "holy place in the Kii Mountains," a candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage list.....cedar trees have suffered damage to their bark and careless tourists have trampled on their roots....
---See the full-size pix of the tree "lovers" here.

Hiroshima:
Topic: Concrete Japan

In Japan, incinerator becomes a work of art
Boston Globe | June 20, 2004
HIROSHIMA, Japan -- ''What a dump," as Bette Davis put it.
Visitors to the Hiroshima City Naka Incineration Plant are likely to utter the famous line from ''Beyond the Forest" with an entirely different intonation, however...to deal with trash in a country with little space to spare, and city authorities made the bold decision to build a monument to waste and put it on a site where people would have to take notice: over the city's main street....
.... This building is meant for quiet contemplation, either of the elegantly tamed nature outside or the treasures locked in the interior structure, their mystery protected by thick stone walls. No natural light penetrates this space. A single entrance beckons, and in this case, the approach is dramatic. Here are magical objects in dark surroundings that protect them from the damaging effects of sun. Your eyes adjust; you notice the splendor of an eighth-century ''Kanjoban." A bronze canopy and banners once used in religious rituals, it looks like a shower of golden lace falling in the stairwell. Beyond is a room with gold-colored walls that emphasize the preciousness of the contents: 48 small, ancient, gilt bronze Buddhist statues, each housed in its own glass case....
.... The building's message is that garbage is not only part of life, but an interesting part that deserves our attention. So the trash transformation is completely visible. Visitors watch it through huge glass walls. A touch-screen system in both Japanese and English explains every bit of the process; a timeline chronicles the history of garbage in the city. In the ''Refuse Pit," giant claw-like machines lift and aerate the trash, so it will burn better. The process is mesmerizing, something out of science fiction...

My comment

It always is a marvel of Japan to me that zillions are spent on the world's worst space program or history?s greatest science initiative failure, the 5th Generation Computer Project, but Japan has yet to make any viable effort in better garbage disposal. ASIMO and kick butt, but Japan doesn?t come near German tech. Even though millions of Japanese are dioxin poisoned by their low-tech, low-temp, incinerators, nobody here thinks of exotic tech like plasma burning of trash. Oh I forget, T.I.J.

Virtual beautiful Tokyo
Topic: Concrete Japan
JPS Tokyo Photoreal Scenery Screenshots
Virtual-SIM fly over beautiful Tokyo such as this screenshot of the movie of Shibuya....

Camping in Concrete
Topic: Concrete Japan
The standard phrase in the US Park Service when refering to campgrounds is "recreational slums." However....

I've been to zillion-yen campgrounds in Japan-- Hachijoshima to be exact--but the level of crowding in a typical Japanese campground in the summer peek is equal to a morning commuter train.

Concrete, the soul of Japan
Topic: Concrete Japan


Oh course, I revel in the concrete splendor here and I remember going on a 20-minute sermon to my dad about Japan?s stated National Goal to place concrete on 100% of its coastline for "Stabilization."
Father, a ferroconcrete architect, deadpanned that, ?Sounds like a lot Jap kids eat concrete, like you.?

Japan's Ideal for Luxury
Topic: Concrete Japan
Here's photos of my stay at the four star "GunkanjimaLand Hotel".

Just another day in the Concrete Butt-plug(tm)
Topic: Concrete Japan

Tokyo on a good day

Refer to the "Casshern" movie trailer.