Japanese concrete will last 10,000 years

[dimwit]

The problem with Japanese concrete is that the sand is usually extracted from the sea resulting in high salt content which corrodes iron rebar.

Personally, I don't have a problem with concrete lasting 10,000 years providing you are building something worth looking at. But I can't think of a single concrete structure in Japan that is worth lasting 10 years let alone 10,000.


Think of how concrete would improve this.

[Catoneinutica]

The problem with Japanese concrete is that the sand is usually extracted from the sea resulting in high salt content which corrodes iron rebar.

Personally, I don't have a problem with concrete lasting 10,000 years providing you are building something worth looking at. But I can't think of a single concrete structure in Japan that is worth lasting 10 years let alone 10,000.


Think of how concrete would improve this.

A lot of Roman concrete has survived over 2000 years. Japanese concrete? Perhaps not so long. After all, haven't shinkansen tunnels been coming apart at the seams because the concrete used was inferior for the reasons Dimwit mentions?

Still, I can't think of a better thing for Japan to be remembered by 10,000 years hence. Long after all the shrines, kimonos, manga, anime, and various subcultures referenced by marxy in his blog - long after all of these things have long vanished, the concrete tetrapods will remain, like the Easter Island figures symbols of a forgotten past.

[Taro Toporific]

.... I can't think of a better thing for Japan to be remembered by 10,000 years hence. Long after all the shrines.... have long vanished, the concrete tetrapods will remain, like the Easter Island figures symbols of a forgotten past.

Many of the shrines in Tokyo are concrete and there's only a dozen castles in Japan that are not concrete "reconstructions." So there will be be plenty for Japan to be remembered for 10,000 years hence.

[Catoneinutica]

Many of the shrines in Tokyo are concrete and there's only a dozen castles in Japan that are not concrete "reconstructions." So there will be be plenty for Japan to be remembered for 10,000 years hence.

Well, assuming they used the good stuff, and not that saltwater crap.

As an aside, when I was in SoCal last summer, I noticed a lot of tinted concrete, usually beige or brown. Don't think I've ever seen that in Japan. Guess the J-concrete-pourers like industrial grey over pseudo-adobe.

[dimwit]

Many of the shrines in Tokyo are concrete and there's only a dozen castles in Japan that are not concrete "reconstructions." So there will be be plenty for Japan to be remembered for 10,000 years hence.

My favorite of the 88 Temples of Shikoku #61 Koonji is a marvelous ode to the gods of concrete.

http://thetempleguy.com/akimeguri/shikoku/gallery/Gallery_61-64.htm

[Mulboyne]

It's even becoming part of foreign policy:

Japan urges U.N. members to take concrete steps on N. Korea

[Taro Toporific]

It's even becoming part of foreign policy:

Japan urges U.N. members to take concrete steps on N. Korea

Sheeee-it, more stairs!

[blackcat]

10,000 years ay? I supose then one day would represent about 1 square kilometre laid in Japan.

Will the Japan Idyllers Association(there MUST be one) invent an engine that can run for 10,000 years?

[Samurai_Jerk]

Sheeee-it, more stairs!

Great pic, Taro. Where is it and where can I find the genius designer so I can punch him in the face?

[Greji]

Great pic, Taro. Where is it and where can I find the genius designer so I can punch him in the face?

His name is Aneha and he's off on a special at the moment, but will probably available in one to five!

[Buraku]

The problem with Japanese concrete is that the sand is usually extracted from the sea resulting in high salt content which corrodes iron rebar.

Personally, I don't have a problem with concrete lasting 10,000 years providing you are building something worth looking at. But I can't think of a single concrete structure in Japan that is worth lasting 10 years let alone 10,000.


Think of how concrete would improve this.

how dare you ! concrete is lovely to look at !!

[IkemenTommy]

A Concrete Step Toward Cleaner Air

Visitors to the Venice Biennale can check out the smog-eating cement that Italian inventors claim will help cities clean themselves

[Taro Toporific]

A Concrete Step Toward Cleaner Air

Ok, I'll see your clean air concrete, and raise you with a CONCRETE computer screen.

The World's first screen to be made of concrete
Via innovationlab.net--
It is made from see-through concrete - and it is heavy. Innovation Lab presents of the heaviest screens in the world. It is heavy due to its physique, but in particular due to the endless number of perspectives and possibilities it features The screen consists of concrete with embedded optical fibres, arranged as pixels, capable of transmitting natural as well as artificial light. The light-admission points are on the back of the screen where the fibres are positioned. The light, or the picture, will then be displayed in pixels on the front.....more....

[Catoneinutica]

"Japanese love concrete, but they don't know how to make it. Concrete is a mixture of cement, gravel and straw? No? Gravel, water and wood pulp? Water, potatoes and lard?...From bumpy landing until bumpy take-off, you spend your time in Japan looking at bad concrete. Everything is made of it - streets, buildings, floors, walls, ceilings, roofs, window frames, lamp posts, statues, benches, plus some of the food, I think. The concrete that hasn't cracked or flaked has crumbled completely. Generations of age and deay seem to be taking place before your eyes."

PJ O'Rourke, "Holidays in Hell"

Okay, I lied: Substitute "Warsaw-Pact-Era Poland" for "Japan". But you get the idea: the mindset of Japan's Central Planners (ie, the mandarins at Okurasho) is certainly no different than that of the late, great Soviets and their minions. We were in Bratislava looking at the horrific, Le Courbusier-ian-nightmare "New Town" built by the Communists in the 1980s, and I was struck with how it looked EXACTLY like, say, Saitama.

Unlike the Soviets and Eastern Europeans, though, Japan seems to have yet to graduate from its concrete-pouring mindset.

[Taro Toporific]

[Taro Toporific]

Tokyo is yours pic.twitter.com/FoqKIN0F63

Tokyo-shithole.jpg

---Lee Chapman(@tokyotimes) March 31, 2014