The Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel in Saitama prefecture on Sept. 23.
Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg
Climate Change Will Test Tokyo’s World-Class Flood Defenses
Japan has financed enormously expensive infrastructure projects to protect cities from catastrophe, but old adaptation plans may not be enough against increasingly heavy rains.
Underneath a stretch of highway north of Tokyo lies an example of Japan’s prowess in engineering solutions to potentially destructive weather events: A network of concrete tunnels and colossal pits built to prevent devastating floods in Saitama prefecture near the bottom of a bowl-shaped river basin. In the event of an extreme storm or a typhoon, it can even help protect the capital.
Completed in 2006 at a cost of 230 billion yen (roughly $2 billion at the time), the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel exemplifies the country's willingness to finance enormously expensive infrastructure projects to protect cities from catastrophe, making Japan among the best-prepared for disasters.