japanese sewer system

A recent conversation led me to investigate deeper the triumph of the Victorian era - The Sewer.

It all began with the “Great Stink” that ensued through London in 1858, killing off over 14,000 londoners. During this time, a Sir Joseph Bazalgette took over a senior engineer on the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers. His predesessor had died from work related causes and Bazalgette realised he needed to make a drastic change to the way sewage was removed from the city, or else he too would fall under the dark veil of the ‘Great Stink’. So 318 million bricks later the wondrous underground tunnels of the victorian sewage system were born. They diverted human waste from overground rivers and poorly built sewers that were making such a stink, and built embankments (hence the name “embankment”), to conceal them even futher.

Such is the brilliance of the victorian engineering, a new breed of cave-walkers have formed that meet and hike through these sewer systems around the UK.

But then my investigation led me to the other side of the world - just have a look at the Tokyo sewage system!