Opinion

Uncover Japan

By Joseph LaPenta

During the last decade there has been mounting criticism of public-works projects. Everywhere you go in Japan, there are highways, tunnels, bridges and dams, and some don't seem to have any clear purpose. Riverbanks and hillsides are covered with concrete, and more than half of the coastline is buried under cement. Every major river and many smaller ones have been dammed or diverted.

Japan was once considered one of the most beautiful countries in the world. These days it is almost impossible to find unspoiled views. It is no surprise that there is a nationwide revolt against public-works projects.

However, Japan's economy is so dependent on such projects that sharp cutbacks in spending will cause unemployment and potential bankruptcies. Necessary projects must continue; others should be stopped. And new ones can be created to reverse the damage done in the past.

Luckily, some of the world's greatest architects and city planners are Japanese — people like Kenzo Tange, Arata Isozaki and Tadao Ando. The government, as the only organization with total authority, should consult these talented people and set standards for beauty in private and public construction projects.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should create a "Commission of Environmental Beauty" with veto power over all decisions of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. This power should extend to prefectural and local governments as well. The staff of the commission should include leading architects, urban planners, environmentalists and artists.

I nominate Tadao Ando as "High Commissioner of Environmental Beauty." He is an architect in the classic sense: an artist who creates environments where people work and live. He has designed some of the simplest, most beautiful buildings in the world. Ando's designs have shown how beautiful concrete can be. He has also appeared on television and has made other efforts to educate the general public about architecture and the environment.

The commission would hold public hearings where citizens could offer suggestions. Based on those suggestions and its own ideas, the commission would carry out projects to make Japan more beautiful. Such projects should be distributed throughout the country to create jobs for construction companies and workers in related industries, and to show ordinary people the effect of their taxes in action. The commission would also concentrate on ways of removing ugliness.

My recommendation for the first project is called: BURY THEM! Bury the pylons, the electric wires, the phone cables. Bury the concrete poles and the transformers. Bury the high-voltage metal webs that deface nature and cities all over Japan. Pay all or part of the cost to public and private owners, companies and workers, or give tax benefits to those who bury them.

There is more and more evidence that high-voltage electric cables are dangerous to the health of people living nearby. But the most obvious reason to bury them is their ugliness. Those who built them may have thought that ugliness and the destruction of nature were the price of progress, but it is time to clean up the mess.

Uncover the skies above the hills, the mountains and the city streets. Give beauty to your children and your grandchildren. Uncover Japan.

Shukan ST: Aug. 30, 2002

(C) All rights reserved