Tetrapods

There are lots of things I like about Japan. The food, the booze, the girls... But there are also things I don't like, and tetrapods are pretty high on the list.

These are tetrapods:

They are everywhere. Any place you find water in Japan, you find tetrapods. Sprinkled along the Oita River. Hugging the harbor in Beppu. Even deep in the countryside, where the natural beauty will snatch your breath from you, you'll find these giant, concrete jacks.

I've read that their ubiquitousness has something to do with the power of the concrete industry in creating unnecessary jobs for itself. The argument is that the tetrapods prevent erosion, but if there's one thing we know about putting concrete in water is that it speeds up erosion and contributes to flooding. But I guess the industry is more powerful than logic. On a recent trip into the interior, the peace and quiet of a small town was marred by the clanging and banging of heavy machinery, hard at work paving over the town's picturesque river embankment.

What price then, these jobs? Here's an idea: instead of paving over what little nature is left, how about we start pulling down what's been done in the last 50 years? Jobs are created, nature is preserved. Oh, but where to put all that concrete slag? I hear the moon has lots of open space...

Comments

[Dan]

Hey Adam - have you read "Dogs & Demons" by Alex Kerr? A righteous insight into the construction industry's grip on Japanese politics. Hence, all the concrete embankments, "erosion control" concrete carpets you see on the mountain roads, and yes, the tetrapods. -Dan

[rupan777]

Wow, those are even uglier than the ones I've seen out in Chiba. :P