Sunday
Nov222009
Right Through the 5th, 6th and 7th Floor.
Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 12:34PM
Being a bit of a car nut, I frequently hit up Jalopnik.com for news and reviews on all things automotive.
Fukushima Gate Tower - Pic courtesy of wikipedia.org
This past week, the site featured an article on Ten Awesome Feats of Automotive Infrastructure [jalopnik.com].
The striking thing about the article, other than some of the totally insane feats of civil engineering depicted, is that vast majority of the ten listed are in Asia - three of which are in Japan.
My favorite part of the article is that my old stomping ground, Osaka is mentioned not once but twice and for different stretches of the famed Hanshin Expressway [wikipedia].
The pic above is of the piece of engineering that takes the top spot in the Jalopnik article - the Fukushima Gate Tower Building [wikipedia]. I've been through this section of roadway and it's one of the cooler sights in downtown Osaka - a hunk of expressway that impales the 5th, 6th and 7th floors of an office building. It's Ridge Racer [youtube] IRL.
The best part of the tower's story is that it was already in existence before the city built this section of the Hanshin Expressway. Read the wiki article for some history on this piece of civil engineered wizardry: It's a story of what happens when the unstoppable force of Japanese beauracracy meets the immovable object of a Japanese firm's stubborn reluctance.
The end result of course being that both parties have to come to a consensus - never mind how insane (or insanely cool) that consensus may be.
Fukushima Gate Tower - Pic courtesy of wikipedia.orgThis past week, the site featured an article on Ten Awesome Feats of Automotive Infrastructure [jalopnik.com].
The striking thing about the article, other than some of the totally insane feats of civil engineering depicted, is that vast majority of the ten listed are in Asia - three of which are in Japan.
My favorite part of the article is that my old stomping ground, Osaka is mentioned not once but twice and for different stretches of the famed Hanshin Expressway [wikipedia].
The pic above is of the piece of engineering that takes the top spot in the Jalopnik article - the Fukushima Gate Tower Building [wikipedia]. I've been through this section of roadway and it's one of the cooler sights in downtown Osaka - a hunk of expressway that impales the 5th, 6th and 7th floors of an office building. It's Ridge Racer [youtube] IRL.
The best part of the tower's story is that it was already in existence before the city built this section of the Hanshin Expressway. Read the wiki article for some history on this piece of civil engineered wizardry: It's a story of what happens when the unstoppable force of Japanese beauracracy meets the immovable object of a Japanese firm's stubborn reluctance.
The end result of course being that both parties have to come to a consensus - never mind how insane (or insanely cool) that consensus may be.
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