Every epoch dreams its successor. - Jules Michelet

November 21, 2004 7:36 PM

G-CANS Project. A look at the massive storm drains under Tokyo, that took twelve years to build. [this is cg]
posted by riffola (48 comments total)

If someone's already gone through the trouble of digitally reproducing the area in 3D, it would be such a small extra step to convert it to a Quake worldmap. Now that would be fun.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:40 PM on November 21, 2004

Just incredible photography. Completely unreal.
posted by purephase at 7:41 PM on November 21, 2004

great rendering engine, when does it come out for xbox?
posted by cherry at 7:45 PM on November 21, 2004

Fantastic, another cliched sewer level....
posted by Hicksu at 7:46 PM on November 21, 2004

From what I can tell via googling it's not real, one person who lives in Japan has never heard of it. Most of the links to it are just blogs pointing to the G-CANS site. No news mention or anything else.
posted by riffola at 7:48 PM on November 21, 2004

Whoa, these aren't real?! I totally thought they were and forwarded them to all my friends already. Oops.
posted by josh at 7:51 PM on November 21, 2004

Absolutely beautiful though, I wonder if it's been developed for a game or maybe a movie? Also, does anyone know if Tokyo is planning to actually build anything like this or is it all in the mind of the whoever created this?
posted by cali at 7:53 PM on November 21, 2004

Anyone reminded of Akira?
posted by AlexReynolds at 7:53 PM on November 21, 2004

Wowie wow wow!

I think a measure of a city is often defined in its ability to plan and support the mega public works projects. Successful cities require long horizon thinking. Spending $10 billion now for something that won't show benefit for 50-75 years seems to be something that some populaces have the stomach to do and some do not

Go Tokyo!
posted by PissOnYourParade at 7:54 PM on November 21, 2004

[this is awesome, and doesn't look like CG to me]
posted by neckro23 at 8:00 PM on November 21, 2004

On further research it looks like it's being worked on. It's mentioned in this Edowga Rivers Office press release.
posted by riffola at 8:07 PM on November 21, 2004

Edowga Rivers Office press release.
posted by riffola at 8:08 PM on November 21, 2004

Real or not, this reminds me of the Action Squad. Urban exploration is such a cool idea, but I have no idea where to start. Not to mention the fact that I'd be worried about becoming a suspected terrist here in DC.
posted by borkingchikapa at 8:20 PM on November 21, 2004

I'm not sure which is more interesting:
the remarkable G-Cans project, or the inability people are having deciding if its real. (Its real).
posted by buddhanarchist at 8:32 PM on November 21, 2004

Here are more pics at Flikr.
posted by 4easypayments at 9:07 PM on November 21, 2004

The reason some are thinking its cg (besides the scale and uniqueness of the site) probably has to do with the 'fishy/ fake composite" look of the figure standing in the first photo. A lot of real photos-- even ones taken by NASA of men on the moon-- are real: yet they composite elements into them later in order to save time, expense or for some political or technical reason in using them for promotional purposes. Maybe this first photo is of a real place but has a somewhat less than professional composite job of the figure in it. Or maybe its completely real, figure and all: and "truth is stranger than fiction". Theres alot of architecture out there that is too amazing to be believed. Or maybe we've been conditioned by Doom to think anything remarkable couldn't possibly be real.
posted by buddhanarchist at 9:11 PM on November 21, 2004

I know there is a lot of stuff underneath this city, I'd explore some of it if I weren't afraid of being deported, but I don't see how they could make something of this magnitude underneath any central area of the city without it coming up in the news regularly over the past 5 years. This is the first I've ever heard of this.
posted by nightchrome at 9:22 PM on November 21, 2004

If it is real, I don't understand how they can cram anymore stuff underground in that city. It seems like they should be about down to the Earth's core by now.
posted by deafmute at 9:24 PM on November 21, 2004

This is obviously the great realm and city of the Dwarrowdelf. Maybe you'd like to meet an average worker of the company who made this vision a reality.

(Hi metafilter. Nice to meet you.)
posted by icosahedral at 9:30 PM on November 21, 2004

A lot of real photos-- even ones taken by NASA of men on the moon-- are real: yet they composite elements into them later in order to save time, expense or for some political or technical reason in using them for promotional purposes.

Dare I ask if this is true? Is there any credible evidence of this wrt moon landings?
posted by AlexReynolds at 9:40 PM on November 21, 2004

They'd better start filming movies in those sewer things. Seriously. I can't think of any other reason for building them.

someguy: HOW ABOUT FOR DRAINING STORMS?

:(
posted by Kleptophoria! at 9:45 PM on November 21, 2004

So have we decided that these images are photos and not CG?
posted by Plinko at 9:48 PM on November 21, 2004

Well, boing boing says it's a tourist attraction, and can be visited for free.
posted by qDot at 10:37 PM on November 21, 2004

nice cans
posted by mikojava at 11:17 PM on November 21, 2004

Alex Reynolds:
heres an interesting link on wikipedia that references the moon landing and photos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_moon_landing_hoax_accusations

My point: imagine you climbed a mountain and were sponsored by Nike. You actually pull off the ascent, risking your life. You take a photo at the top. You get back, and Nike says you have too relaxed a look on your face in the photos. So they composite a more 'victorious' look onto your face digitally, and distribute the photos in their advertisements. You actually DID climb the mountain, but, technically, the photos are fakes. Thats all I was saying about the moon landing photos.
posted by buddhanarchist at 11:17 PM on November 21, 2004

Wonder how these compare with the Toyon tanks.
posted by euphorb at 11:39 PM on November 21, 2004

qDot: boing boing says that *supposedly* it is a tourist spot. That doesn't really carry a lot of weight.
posted by nightchrome at 11:46 PM on November 21, 2004

It probably took 12 years to render!
posted by lorbus at 11:56 PM on November 21, 2004

One of these huge tunnels goes under my neighborhood. It is built already, as I have seen real photos of it. I'll look for the link.
posted by bashos_frog at 12:32 AM on November 22, 2004

euphorb: Putzmeister? Did someone really name a company Putzmeister?
posted by bashos_frog at 12:34 AM on November 22, 2004

After consultation with some locals, it appears this thing *is* real. I withdraw my earlier skepticism. Apparently I just don't pay close enough attention to current events.
Now, to find out how to book a visit...
posted by nightchrome at 12:41 AM on November 22, 2004

Not CG. According to the linked site there used to be tours but they seen to have been canceled for now. They also list the pricetag at around 2.5 trillion. The storm drains pictured are not in Tokyo but rather in nearby Chiba. Saitama also has drains like this from what I hear.
posted by mexican at 12:58 AM on November 22, 2004

That's WOW! It looks real enough to me.
It's also great reference material for creating CG environments. Indeed, I was goggling for stuff like this yesterday. Perhaps I'll have a try recreating one of the simpler ones if I can find the time [downloads pics in the "references" folder, section "underground structures"...]
posted by elgilito at 1:06 AM on November 22, 2004

2.5 trillion is what in US dollars?
posted by stbalbach at 1:19 AM on November 22, 2004

Yeah, that's a rough conversion at around 110 yen to 1 USD from 280,000,000,000 yen.
posted by mexican at 1:32 AM on November 22, 2004

Are we sure this wasn't a FARK photoshop competition?
:-)
posted by JtJ at 1:58 AM on November 22, 2004

mexican - the number you gave converts to roughly 2.5 billion USD, which makes a bit more sense, as 2.5 trillion dollars is about a quarter of the U.S.A.'s gross domestic product.

On the other hand, 2.5 billion seems a bit low for an underground project of this scope in a major urban center.
posted by louigi at 2:43 AM on November 22, 2004

I knew I should have gone with 2.5 x 10⁸. Anyway, from the maps of where this is, it's far enough inside Chiba that 2.5 x 10⁸ yen would seem believable.
posted by mexican at 4:45 AM on November 22, 2004

I'm visiting Japan next spring. Hopefully I'll be able to get a tour of this facility. I’d love to take some pictures there.
posted by Tenuki at 5:41 AM on November 22, 2004

”as 2.5 trillion dollars is about a quarter of the U.S.A.'s gross domestic product."

And almost three quarters of Japan’s GDP (3.55 trillion)
posted by Tenuki at 5:48 AM on November 22, 2004

I for one welcome our new storm drain underlords.
posted by rdub at 5:53 AM on November 22, 2004

You’ve been waiting a long time to say that haven’t you rdub?
posted by Tenuki at 6:09 AM on November 22, 2004

I don't know about anyone else, but the very first photo reminded me of the underground dwarven kingdoms in the Lord of the Rings series. Another instance of life imitates art?

Fantastic photos though.

posted by GreatWesternDragon at 6:50 AM on November 22, 2004

GWDragon, there's a little-known MetaFilter bylaw stating that a user must surrender his membership if he references dwarven kingdoms in his first post. Many regrets.

I kid! Get in here, ya nerdy li'l knucklehead! ;-D
posted by squirrel at 7:21 AM on November 22, 2004

At the risk of turning this thread into a parade of breathtaking structures (and what risk is there in that, I ask you) I present Kahn's Institute of Public Administration in India. As seen in the rather good film on the life of Louis Kahn, My Architect. If anyone has a link to a good slideshow of this magnificient building, please post it.
posted by squirrel at 7:36 AM on November 22, 2004

Not to nitpick, squirrel, but what's so great about that building? It looks kinda like a prison.

Still want to see that movie, though. Maybe that'll explain it.
posted by fungible at 2:36 PM on November 22, 2004

Yeah, I don't have images as good as the ones in the movie. I recommend it.
posted by squirrel at 5:29 PM on November 22, 2004

Riffola, this is very neat.
Thanks for sharing.

You consistently post great things, and I always try to read your posts. Thank you very much.
posted by Seth at 1:53 PM on November 23, 2004