Tsushima-South Gyeongsang Tunnel
Takaya Takeishi,
Technical Committee Member, Japan-Korea Tunnel Technical Committee, International Highway Foundation;
Deputy General Manager, Construction Department, Capital Region Branch, Japan Foundation Engineering Co., Ltd.
February 4th of this year (2017) marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Professor Kuwahara Yasuo.
Around 1939, Professor Yasuo Kuwahara was a civil engineer and railway worker who proposed a grand plan to connect Japan with the continent through an undersea tunnel and then to Europe by rail. The grandeur of his plan earned him a reputation as a "big talker," but he was a bold man who acted without being bothered.
The railway network surrounding the Sea of Japan is also part of this, and plans have been drawn up for the Seikan, Kanmon, Japan-Korea and Soya Strait Tunnels.As part of the Japan-Korea Tunnel plan, two drilling geological surveys have been carried out near Higashimatsuura District, Saga Prefecture.
He was probably the first engineer in history to seriously plan a Japan-Korea tunnel.
Last year (2016), the Shinkansen finally reached Hakodate, Hokkaido. The plan of Yasuo Kuwahara, which was once mocked as a "big lie," has become a reality with two strait tunnels: the Kanmon Strait Tunnel and the Seikan Strait Tunnel. Professor Yasuo Kuwahara is originally from Ishikawa Prefecture. It was deeply moving to see Professor Utsunomiya come from the same Hokuriku region with the news that the Japan-Korea tunnel project had resumed.
Now, back to my reunion with the Executive Director of the International Highway Foundation.
Later, the Secretary-General approached me with a truly thrilling story. Thirty years ago, the International Highway Construction Agency (the predecessor to the International Highway Foundation) conducted a vast amount of data on land and sea geological and environmental surveys in preparation for the construction of the Japan-Korea Tunnel, but it had hardly been put to use. He wanted to establish a "Japan-Korea Tunnel Technical Committee" by bringing together skilled, practical engineers who could interpret and utilize this vast amount of data. He asked me to take on the task.
Of course, I had no reason to refuse, so I readily accepted. I simply couldn't resist the urge to quickly see the vast amount of organized data.
