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Japan is a highly developed nation, almost a case
study in what happens when industrialization is taken too far.
Asphalt and concrete about in Japan, and I can't remember when I
last saw a non-paved road here. Even up in the mountains you can
see plenty of concrete, as engineers cover mountainsides with
cement to keep falling rocks at bay. Basically, Japan's penchant
for durable materials is a side effect of its reliance on -- you
could say addiction to -- construction is the backbone of its
economy. A sizeable part of the American economy is made up of
defense contractors who create the tools the military needs to
do its job. In place of these companies, Japan has gargantuan
construction interests who lobby for constant building of
everything from roads to bridges to subsidized local projects
like a space museum celebrating Japanese astronaut Chiaki Mukai,
located in her hometown near us. Japan's government is quite
good at building things that no one needs, such as the $7
billion Aqua-line, a massive bridge-and-tunnel that cuts across
Tokyo Bay to Chiba (Night City if you're a William Gibson fan),
or the 13.7 km Great Seto Bridge that connects Japan's main
island of Honshu with fourth-largest island of Shikoku, both of
which cost so much in tolls that most drivers don't
bother.
Even though I dislike wasteful construction
projects, I will admit that Japan is safer from natural
disasters than it would otherwise be without the Japanese
tendency to overbuild. From Earthquakes to tsunamis to typhoons,
there are plenty of hazards in Japan, but by and large plans are
in place to deal with them. Most every river in Japan has a
high, sloped levee made of reinforced concrete to guard against
flooding, and large concrete breakwaters surround much of
Japan's coastline, lessening the impact of a big wave. Every
community in Japan has a designated "evacuation area,"
a place where you're supposed to go in the event of a natural
disaster. And in the event that homes are destroyed, people here
know that temporary housing units that can be erected quickly
will be provided by the government, as happened after the
earthquakes in Kobe and Niigata.
There is one corner of Japan that isn't
overdeveloped: the northernmost island of Hokkaido. A very cold
place in the winter, Hokkaido is the "bread basket" of
Japan, and companies use the image of the island to sell
everything from milk to butter to corn. Because the island was
for the most part settled after Japan began to modernize in the
1870s, cities in Hokkaido often feel quite different from the
rest of the country, from the rolling hills and beautiful
Catholic Church of Hakodate in the south to the quaint canals of
the port city of Otaru. Sapporo is a bustling modern city that
was designed by American urban planners, and it's also the home
of the Sapporo Brewing Company, Japan's oldest. Every August
thousands of Japanese from the Tokyo area go to Hokkaido to
escape the heat. It large natural areas and open roads make it
popular with motorcycle aficionados from all over Japan, too.
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