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If people start calling for the removal of utility poles in front of their home, things will start to speed up.

15 Comments

LDP lawmaker Yuriko Koike. The government is considering a bill to promote the relocation of power lines underground, a project backed by local governments, businesses and the prime minister to improve Japan's scenery. (Mainichi Shimbun)

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I shall be among the first... We have a couple of beautiful cherry-blossom trees near our house, completely "spoiled" by the utility poles around them.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

All of this sounds nice to the public and will make them look good, but everyone saying it knows it will never happen. The concrete industry swings the golden hammer of power from Hokkaido to Okinawa.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I had to go to the doctor this morning and while waiting in the car park looked at the overhead lines.

A normal suburban street in a mainly residential area - a few small businesses and a big supermarket close by - and I counted 19 cables / lines suspended.

I wondered what on earth could be travelling along so many lines. Must be something more than normal power, phone & and communication cables.

Anyone know & why so many?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"I wondered what on earth could be travelling along so many lines. ....Anyone know & why so many?"

when first arrived in Japan, I lived in an old place, with gas heating and cooking. I now live in a new place, and both are electricity. The old gas appliances worked a lot better and were cheaper to use. It's the power of TEPCO and the nuclear village.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I still have gas heating for kitchen and Bath.

No more Gas Stove using a 2 plate IH stove now, bought my own and it draws 1400Watt max(IE comparable to most other Appliances).

As for the lines power, telephone, optical fiber, etc

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Read Dogs and Demons by Alex Kerr for a depressingly thorough explanation of why "considering" this perfectly obvious move will never happen here.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Ya a plague for sure & they do ruin so so many views.......

My take on this is that maybe now they figure they have put so many poles that there isn't so much demand for more SO they NOW come up with the idea of getting rid of them, Pork on top of PORK!!!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

If people start calling for the removal of utility poles in front of their home, things will start to speed up.

Bring it on, in tandem with traffic-calming measures.

The concrete industry can work flat out (LDP cretinocracy® ad infinitum!) and each ward office can happily spend months of deliberations, reinventing redundant little wheels and reinforcing their beige, becardiganned hierarchies.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

brwny1, the poles are generally owned by electricity companies which often run several separate lines from the nearest transformer to individual buildings. They also lease space on the poles to telecommunication companies, which run lines for fixed phone lines and fiber optic cables.

Putting all these below ground would be great depending on location, but care must be taken as pedestrians often use them so that they're not mowed down by cars on roads with no sidewalks.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I never understood why is wasn't run undergound until the amount of earthquakes then it made sence that you'd need to dig up the road all the time if some major happens. But saying that running it underground would make everything look about nicer.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Laguna - thanks. Yeah I guess running multiple lines (more costs, more business???) for power and leasing to all the tele/cable companies equals a full house.

And you're right that undergrounding lines could prove dangerous on narrow sidewalk-less streets, but in my city we are blessed with many, many wide(r) streets, and aside from a handful of "picture" streets (ie in front of the pref govt buildings) cables are strewn across the city / skyline. The earthquake country reason is lame as all the gas & water conduits are buried. Other developed countries don't have the mangle of wires that exist here so it must not be in the "too hard basket". Of course every municipality in Japan outside of Ginza probably is flat broke.

The pole in front of my house was up for mandatory renewal a few years back and the workers asked me if I wanted to shift it to another position. I suggested 4 metres nearer to the corner and not in front of my carport (but still in front of my fence). They said they couldn't move it that far - only a metre or so. I said why'd you even ask me then. Rules & Rules.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

forget japan's scenery. Improve the toilets. Less squat- more washlets.

I think that would cater to the foreign vistors alot more

0 ( +0 / -0 )

instead of paying for that they could pay for washlets instead of squats

if they really care about japan's scenery how about getting rid of those Japanese Only signs. Much MORE of an eyesore than some simple utility poles ;especially for these mixed couples who have to pass by those signs everyday knowing their kids are going to have to read that garbage.

what's more ugly.. a utility post or a racist sign.

Reader: you be the judge

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Laguna: "Putting all these below ground would be great depending on location, but care must be taken as pedestrians often use them so that they're not mowed down by cars on roads with no sidewalks."

yeah, but that said, they have to use them not to get mowed down because they are blocking the 'sidewalks' anyway (or the white line painted at the sides of roads) and people have to literally go around them and into traffic.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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