Bury the fucking power lines!

[Taro Toporific]

Bury the power lines
The Japan Times 2011 Aug. 21 --- One of the unfortunate side effects of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s ongoing financial and managerial problems is that Tokyo's utility lines may never get buried. The Tokyo metropolitan government started burying lines in Tokyo in 1986, as part of the city's improved disaster-prevention measures.
Tepco and other private companies managing power lines were expected to bear some of the expense. Now, however, as problems continue with the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, Tepco has notified the Tokyo government it may no longer be able to bear the cost.
Utility poles are some of the most fragile infrastructure. They are easily damaged, making roads immediately difficult or impassable. Overhead power lines carry high voltage that can be extremely dangerous and cause fires, one of the most serious postquake dangers...more...

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Just ban the Japanese National Tree, the concrete utility pole.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I can't believe they've actually been working on this issue for 25 years already considering what your average neighborhood in Tokyo looks like.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

...The Japanese National Tree, the concrete utility pole...

And the National Tree is in full bloom all FOUR seasons!!!!!!

[Coligny]

Wonderfull article to forward to all the wapanist imbecile rationnalising any japanese bullshit with "it's because of the earfquakez"...

Hideous powerlines... sign of the 3rd world... not a quake safety measure...

[Dreamy_Peach]

I've never been to the Philippines, but I can imagine what it looks like.

[Doctor Stop]

Bury the power lines

Bury the power lines? How about burying fucking Tepco? In concrete.

[Iraira]

I dunno about burying the power lines. There have been many a time when I stand out on my veranda smoking a cig, staring at the strung together mess on the closest telephone pole, trying to follow one wire from its start, through its endless winding between and around countless other wires or various sizes and colors, and off into oblivion. It's frustrating at times, as it looks like a hairball that the dog coughed up. A few times, I have managed to track one wire to its destination. And that feels pretty damn good.

[Captain Japan]

Hakodate is home to Japan's first concrete utility pole:



I took that shot over the weekend.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Japan's first concrete utility pole...

A usurper!

[legion]

Makes you wonder what they spend all the money on really, a debt bigger than the GDP and one of the highest GDPs in the world but we still have concrete and wires draped everywhere.

Mind you if where I work is anything to go by they have probably been holding meetings since 1985 but haven't actually got round to doing any actual work,

[Jack]

Makes you wonder what they spend all the money on really, a debt bigger than the GDP and one of the highest GDPs in the world but we still have concrete and wires draped everywhere.

Mind you if where I work is anything to go by they have probably been holding meetings since 1985 but haven't actually got round to doing any actual work,

I'm not an engineer but I believe it has to do with earthquakes. Natural gas lines and power lines burried in close proximity do not make a good combination in an earthquake. Also, it is easier to spot the broken lines when dangling from above. Let's face it, Japanese are smart enough to figure out how to do certain things. They don't need advice from folks on FG.com.

[Tsuru]

Yes, of course it's safer to have live wires dangling from poles in the street after a quake, rather then having them in the ground or in the sewer. Why didn't the west think of this? I mean, just think about it... the showers of sparks and the fires they set off make them visible in the dark as well!

Those brilliant bastards....

[Iraira]

I'm not an engineer but I believe it has to do with earthquakes. Natural gas lines and power lines burried in close proximity do not make a good combination in an earthquake. Also, it is easier to spot the broken lines when dangling from above. Let's face it, Japanese are smart enough to figure out how to do certain things. They don't need advice from folks on FG.com.

Almost all the power lines are buried in Los Angeles, and I think once they decided to do it, it was done pretty damn quick starting back in the 1970s. Don't remember about SF...hippies probably like 'em.

[Yokohammer]

They managed to bury all the power lines in the Minato Mirai area of Yokohama.
They can do it if they really want to.

[Coligny]

I'm not an engineer but I believe it has to do with earthquakes.

Speaking of rationnalising imbeciles...

Hint's for ya captain "i'm not an engineer" Obvious:

In case of gas leaks, sparkles are as bad if not worse at street level...

(He's doing it on purpose ain't he ?)

[Captain Japan]

Communication and power lines are being buried in Japan specifically due to the threat of earthquakes. Tokyo Underground.

A report provided by the Tokyo National Highway Office said that after the 7.3-Richter magnitude Kobe earthquake in 1995, which killed more than 6,000 people, similar ducts tended to move along with earth pressures and suffered little damage.

[Coligny]

Communication and power lines are being buried in Japan specifically due to the threat of earthquakes. Tokyo Underground.

HINTS: Burried wires can easily include loop sections to allow for easy expansion in case of ground motion...
HINTS 2: communication lines going through the sewers also include those loops in case of damage so the broken section can be cut, the fiber can be brought to surface for 'welding' in a special clean-room truck... then put back in the poopstream...
(been there, done that... saw some construction work in the sewer on a sunday while going to see a movie, the next monday some guy cut me fiber with a powertool 'that slipped patwon')

[matsuki]

I can't believe they've actually been working on this issue for 25 years already considering what your average neighborhood in Tokyo looks like.

TIJ, all that money was spent on coffee, dinners, drinks, and hostess clubs while all those in power hold "meetings" but make no progress. (all while the average Japanese shoganai the lack of progress away)

[dimwit]

The reason power lines aren't buried is that they are cheaper for the power utilities to repair and work on line above ground, and since due to the municipal electorial system which allows a multitude of representatives over a single area it allows the power companies to get theirn own sock puupet elected to city councils and do all in their power to prevent burying the power lines.

I find it interesting that Jack the Quebecer is whinging about burying the power lines, when to me the thing that makes Quebec City such a marvel is the fact all the power lines and all the exterior crap that exuding form most Japanese buildings is very properly hidden.

[rant]Japan has far too often accepted substandard exterior building design and streetscape as a demonstration of modesty when in fact it just shows a brutal bloodminded, puke on your doorstep lack of taste. We live in a first world country with third world cities. If Japan were to spend even half what is does on wasteful public works to beautifying cities and creating something with any consideration for aesthitics the other Asians would flock here [/rant]

[Coligny]

Speaking of powerlines... despite previous effort... seems too much are still on pole... got 10 minutes of mild thunderstorm... lights blinked, APU beeped... And the streets are in the dark...

Now sirenes...

And Unimogs...

everywhere Unimogs...

In France when I wuz kitten response to any crisis was to "Send the Clemenceau" (A/C)... Here anything wrong and the answer seems to be "Send the Unimogs..."

[Taro Toporific]

Tokyo considering removing overhead power lines in run-up to 2020 Olympics
RocketNews24 | 2015/03/2
...now is the time for Tokyo to finally get serious about getting rid of its unsightly overhead power lines.
Considering the importance Japanese culture puts on aesthetic beauty, travelers from overseas are often surprised by how much of Japan’s power grid is located above ground. Even in Tokyo’s 23 wards, a whopping 93 percent of energy is delivered by cables strung up on power poles...
... should a major earthquake strike the capital, toppled power poles could prevent emergency response vehicles from quickly reaching victims and others in need of assistance...more...

japan_beauty.jpg

[matsuki]

I wonder if the pesky karasu problem will get any better without all the nest sites and perches they provide...

[Samurai_Jerk]

Rank amateurs compared to the Vietnamese.

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[matsuki]

Fuuuuu, how many dead animals did you see caught in those while you were there?

[Samurai_Jerk]

Fuuuuu, how many dead animals did you see caught in those while you were there?

You're too busy dodging scooters to spend much time looking up.

[Coligny]

Rank amateurs compared to the Vietnamese.

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Did you get the T-shirt ?

image.jpg

[GomiGirl]

Bangkok must run a close second to Vietnam..

[Wage Slave]

Try Bombay or Calcutta.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Try Bombay or Calcutta.

Do I have to? I'd rather not.

[yanpa]

A trip to India will make places like Thailand and Vietnam seem like a modicum of efficiency and cleanliness.