Saturday, January 2, 2010

Concrete Wabi sabi: Tetrapods

mis10

Continuing with a further look at Japan's favorite building material, concrete.

local3647

In Japan tetrapod is the generic name for a variety of concretes shapes used in "coastal defence" and riverside erosion control. There are dozens of variations in size and shape other than the true tetrapod which has 4 legs.

waki1332

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that they often cause more problems than they solve, not least of which the uglification of the coast. More than 50% of the Japanese coast has been concreted. Less than 2% of Osaka Bay is natural.

local3642

Of course, some might say that the main function of tetrapods is to provide profits for concrete and construction companies.

gotsu635

In Junior High Schools in Japan kids are taught that "We Japanese love nature, but the West (by which is meant the USA) try to control nature"

pasar6790

5 comments:

  1. The high school kid comment made me lol...
    Sometime this country is a really bad joke

    I just got the books about Ryoma, the TV serial that will start tonight on NHK....
    I have never read anyting as unscientific and childish as this "history" book.
    What they sell to the people in this country as "education" is a real joke.
    Third World, really...

    Greetings, Volland

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  2. you have amazing work here!! So beautiful and very cool images. Happy new year to you!

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  3. I love the quote from the book, very typical ha ha. The next sentence probably went onto say something about how Japan is the only country to really have 4 seasons...

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