The facility is managed by the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, and has protected the area from being flooded seven times a year on average since it started preliminary operations in 2002. When a typhoon hit the area in September 2015, the tank prevented a possible flood by swallowing a total of 19 million cubic meters of water over four days to discharge the water into the Edogawa river.
The tours were planned by a committee including the ministry and the Kasukabe city government, as one of the tourism projects for visits to major infrastructure such as dams and bridges. They started in cooperation with the Tokyo-based tourism company Tobu Top Tours Co.
Before the tours began, the facility was open to the public for free three times a day on weekdays and two Saturdays a month, accepting 100 people a day. Now visitors are allowed to go underground seven times a day with a daily capacity of up to 350 people, allowing about five times the number of monthly admissions. The tours, which require a fee, are guided by eight “concierges,” and visitors receive a memorial card.
Toru Furuuchi, 45, from Tokyo’s Asakusabashi district, joined the tour with his family. “I was totally overwhelmed by the scale of this place. Disasters related to heavy rains have occurred across the country this year, so it’s good especially for children to learn about the threat of floods by visiting here. It’s not free, but it’s better to have more people come here,” Furuuchi said.
Admission is ¥500 until the end of August and will be ¥650 from September. Tours are available only in Japanese, and reservations are required via the internet or by phone. For more information, visit http://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/edogawa/edogawa00672.html
(New Japan, Old Japan is a series exclusive to The Japan News)