Japan construction scandal widens

Japan construction scandal widens as Japanese architect who has admitted breaching construction rules in his designs has said he was not the only person involved in the scandal;

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Japan construction scandal widens

"At that time, about 90% of my business was with Kimura Construction, which told me that it would cut ties unless I accepted to reduce the amount of steel reinforcement," he said.

"I was under heavy pressure, but initially I refused partly because of my pride as first-class certified architect," he said. "But I had a sick wife who was in and out of a hospital, and refusing meant zero income."

I think this is a pretty appalling scandel considering japan's history for earthquakes, theres no doubt that Hidetsugu Aneha was in the wrong for continueing to build with Kimura Construction even if they were his main source of buisness, he put hundreds of lives on the line by designing his buildings and taking advantage of peoples trust by keeping his first-class architect certificate through lies...But it is a good question why he managed to get through the safety inspectors so easily for such a long time, it makes you think how many other death-trap homes are being built in japan that are ticking time bombs only waiting to go off at the next tremor/earthquake ...?
What are your opinions on modern japanese buildings and the way they are built? Do you think they are well-made, safe and attractive, or cheeply/poorly built and designed and ugly?

I have worked in construction for nearly haf a century now, and whilst I have no experience in Japan, I do have experience from North America, Europe and the UK.

Without making too sweeping an observation - I have little doubt that there are some buildings that are badly built and/or designed in almost every country in the world!

I find more and more that the key requirement of many construction elements is not "how well can it be built" but "how quickly can we throw the damned thing up?"

Cost cutting and undercutting of prices by zealously competitive contractors leaves many of them foolishly near bankruptcy. Quality control by contractors is from time to time a joke! I can think of several examples that I have personally witnessed in the last seven days!

(But just in case .... I'l be careful and leave it at that!)

There are still a great number of reputable Architects, Engineers and Contractors out there, thank goodness, ..... but there are also a lot of "cowboys" (as we like to call them).

It undoubtedly exists in Japan. But Japan, I assure you, is not alone!

ﾆ淡ﾆ停?｡ﾆ停?

I am not an expert on building design etc. but I do think that the major Japanese commercial buildings are comparable in design with those in international cities. The only thing which strikes me about Japanese homes in the "mansion" apartments, private houses and also very local hotels, is how low the ceiling is or the compactness of the rooms. Granted that they are homely, but I still get a bit claustrophic during the first few days of my trip back to Japan.
Ken

Wife of Scandal-Tainted Architect Aneha Leaps to Her Death

The woman has been identified as the 49-year-old wife of Aneha, 48. Investigators suspect that she committed suicide, judging from the circumstances surrounding the scene.

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wow, reading the original post wondered to myself that given the circumstances of having to take care of a sick wife if I wouldn't act similarly. I guess that such a response renders the same tragic results. In the end, architects are beholden to the people who occupy their buildings, use their bridges, and suffer from their designs. Whether Aneha was coerced or not is irrevelant in light of the fact that he went along with the coercion and put so many people at risk.

However, I think that this is a perfect example of corporate violence. Corporations, will do anything in order to maximize the amount of money they can pull in, including indirectly killing several, hundreds, thousands or even millions of people through their conscious decisions. The consequences of their actions are clear, and they simply don't care; there are countless examples of this begging to be shared. I'd like to see the construction companies that hired Aneha answer for their part in this.

5 times have been there and everytime I've spentnot too much.You must know where to eat and to sleep ^_^