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Power lines

27 Comments

Workmen install more power lines in Akasaka.

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Scary, that seems like a dangerous place to work.

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only if the 6 left hands don't know what the 6 right hands are doing..

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At first when I looked at the picture, the workers looked like a weird Gandam robot. The two workers working on the bottom looked like legs, the one guy in the middle looks like the torso and three workers on top looked like the arms.

It could be that when I first looked at it, I hadn't had my coffee yet too.

Either way, my hat's off to them. I have a very healthy respect for electricity and those who work to give it to us.

Taka

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All these power lines are ugly. Plus, pidgeons and crows sit on them and crap on people's heads. When are they going to start running them under the street?

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Some areas are putting them underground now, but that is up to the local muncipality.

In my area a few streets have been done already, all you see now is a pole coming up now and than and wires running of it to houses.

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You know in any society, it is the high profile jobs like lawyers, doctors, politicians, and business men who are movers and shakers who make the news and the most money.

But in reality, it is the work of people like these men, who bring all of the conveniences of life to us. Working with a force that can kill you in a matter of seconds takes great skills, and does not leave much margin for error. After any storm, or eathquake when power lines are down, these guys along with police and firemen are out there putting their lives on the line. You want to cripple an economy, don't go after the high powered people and places. Just go after the hearts and minds of workers like these and other who bring services to us, and then you will see how valuable they are to keeping things going.

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Alphaape.

True words. I got a few blue-color friends that make more than I did in IT, etc.

Actually trying to convince my son to pursue that line of work. Few reasons: His work will always be in demand and people will pay for it because they can't live without those luxuries.

Also I think they get more satisfaction from their job than a desk-pusher, etc.

Reminds me off ”Who you gonna call ..." when the brown stuff hits the spinning thingy.

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"You want to cripple an economy"...go after farmer and garbage collector.

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Can't they get rid of these ugly power lines? Every time I go back to Japan, I get overwhelmed with way too many power lines. They are such eye-sores and I don't understand why they don't hurry up and bury all of them.

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"They are such eye-sores and I don't understand why they don't hurry up and bury all of them."

Let's think together. Put all cables under the ground, and wait for a quake like we had yesterday.

How many percentage of Japan would be out of electricity due to broken cables? I say around 40%, all the way down to the Kanto area.

THAT is why they are not under the ground.

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sarcasm,

I didn't see the sewer system blow crap everywhere after the earthquake yesterday and they don't run pipes above our heads.

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let's really think together: there's less of a chance they'd snap being underground than above ground

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Sarcasm123... overhead wire are much more vulnerable, (wind, traffic accident, quake, easy sabotage, lightning.) it's just cheaper, so people rationalize it with the usual "it's japan so it's for the quakes" which is beyond ridiculous. In my little harbor town here, they are burrying everything. The town was pretty even without lowering your standards because it's a japanese town. But now it's getting quite gorgeous.

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I didn't see the sewer system blow crap everywhere after the earthquake yesterday and they don't run pipes above our heads.

How thick is the sewer? How much can it be stretched before the connection is broken? Repeat the same questions for an electric wire.

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Old buddy, I would tend to imagine that electrical cables are much more flexible than sewers systems.

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utilities are run above ground because its cheaper. There is no merit to the claim that utilities are more vulnerable underground.

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With power lines, if for some reason more powerful lines need to be added, it is easier if they are above ground. Also, if a line breaks, you can pretty much tell where the brake occurs visually. If they are underground, unlike a sewage line when it breaks with a tell tell sign of water seepage or smell you can easily pinpoint the area. With power lines and breaking, it is hard to determine exactly where the line broke without eather pulling the cables or digging up the area if there is not an underground access point nearby.

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sarcasm123: Do you always have to argue on this board just for the sake of it? It wouldn't be so bad if you were right half the times.

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Sarx - again with the "this is the way it is done here, so it's the way it should be done".

Just think for a moment about your earthquake argument. When the big one hits, the power's going out. No maybe, it's going out.

So, without power, you have the question of getting emergency vehicles to where they're needed.

Buried powerlines = a road.

Suspended powerlines = fallen telegraph poles = a blocked road = unnecessary death. Now who do you think will make up the vast majority of those dead people?

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This has been discussed in the media and in so many books about Japan. Power lines are above ground in this country because it's cheaper that way and for no other reason. In an earthquake (particularly as well demonstrated in the Great Hanshin earthquake) fallen power lines prevented easy access for emergency vehicles and more than on person was electrocuted from live broken dangling wires. Overhead lines are never a good idea - both for practical, safety and aesthetic reasons. Look at cities in developing countries like Manila or Jakarta - festooned with wires. They'd love to bury their wires if they could afford to. In Japan power lines remain above ground because of lack of will on the part of the authorities and ordinary people here know no different.

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"Utilities are run above ground because it's cheaper"

VOR

And that's why we're going to see these ugly utility lines on the streets for the rest of our lives, probably.

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"Old buddy, I would tend to imagine that electrical cables are much more flexible than sewers systems."

Come on mate. If they would have been under the ground every single earthquake would result in hundreds of places having to be digged up repaired and put under the ground again.

"In an earthquake (particularly as well demonstrated in the Great Hanshin earthquake) fallen power lines prevented easy access for emergency vehicles and more than on person was electrocuted from live broken dangling wires."

True. But how often do earthquakes like that happen? How often do small ones happen? It is a choice between having to dig them up every 2 weeks vs having to be careful every 100 years.

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Because the idea of digging streets up is so appalling? That's why the ashphalt gets ripped to pieces all over town all the bleeding time, so three blokes with sticks can guide us round the holes.

While the hole's there, stick the bleeding cables in it.

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"That's why the ashphalt gets ripped to pieces all over town all the bleeding time, so three blokes with sticks can guide us round the holes."

See, already complaining now. Imagin what would happen if they were actually digging them up now! More whining?

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Er, no. Because then they would be ripping up the ashphalt for a purpose (to fix power lines), and my tax money would be at work for the betterment of the city I live in, rather than being burnt up in futility.

I don't need four blokes to guide me around a hole that a) I can see, and b) didn't need digging.

I wouldn't, however, mind paying for the holes' being dug if it were to enhance c) what I have to see every day and thus my quality of life, and d)chances of survival when the Big One strikes.

The holes are being dug. The cables should be put in them. There would be work for thousands, and a better quality of life for all. Now you tell me why uglier and more dangerous is better.

Or just point out that you can read japanese, your standard modus operandi when you have no valid point.

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And, before you stoop to it, don't talk sewage about three blokes becoming four. I walked through Shinbashi tonight. Four blokes. One hole. Eff all work being done.

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Spin and twist all you want, Wottock. If you put the cables underground you would have 4 blokes standing around every 10 meters on every road in nord honshu at this moment.

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