Why Japan Built a 400 km Wall Too Short on Purpose

Japan has built new seawalls along nearly 400 km of its Tohoku coast, at 583 separate sites, for more than 1.3 trillion yen (over US$12 billion). Some stand 14.7 metres tall. And against the biggest wave, they are too short on purpose. In this film, you live on this coast for eleven centuries. You farm rice on the Sendai plain in 869, when a flood leaves a layer of sea sand that will warn scientists a thousand years later. You fish in Taro in 1896 and 1933, when survivors carve tsunami stones that say "Do not build any homes below this point." You walk on top of Taro's X-shaped "Great Wall," which saved everyone in 1960, and you watch Mayor Kotoku Wamura get mocked for building a 15.5-metre floodgate in tiny Fudai. Then comes 11 March 2011. Kamaishi's record-breaking breakwater is topped. Schoolchildren who had practised running uphill survive. Firefighters die closing gates by hand. Taro's wall fails, while Fudai's "waste of money" holds the sea back, and the whole village loses only one man. After that comes the rebuild: the Level 1 and Level 2 tsunami doctrine, self-closing gates, fishermen in Kesennuma who call the new wall a prison, and Mone Bay, which said no. And finally, why the most expensive wall in Japan's history was never meant to stop everything. CHAPTERS 0:00 A wall that hides the sea 1:33 869 – The Jogan flood and the sand that remembered 3:16 1896 – Taro and the tsunami stones 5:09 1933 – The sea comes back 6:23 1958 – Taro builds its Great Wall 8:07 Mayor Wamura's "waste of money" 9:50 Kamaishi's record breakwater 10:37 11 March 2011 15:07 The Miracle Pine and the cost 15:53 The rebuild: Japan's new Great Wall 17:12 Level 1, Level 2 – too short on purpose 19:19 Life behind the wall 20:52 Why build it too short? Sources: Wikipedia (EN/JA) articles on the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami, Taro, Fudai, the Kamaishi breakwater and tsunami stones; NPR (2014) reporting on the "Great Wall of Japan"; Prof. Fumihiko Imamura, Tohoku University. #Japan #Tsunami #Seawall #Tohoku #History