Not to be a fiddly bitch, but...

Kansai airport is nowhere near Tokyo. Kansai is named so because it is the major airport for Kansai prefecture - the prefecture Osaka is located in, several hours train ride to the southwest of Tokyo. When I went to Japan in '01, I flew into Narita and flew out of Kansai. It's possible that a massive quake in Kanto (like high 8's or low 9's minimum) could damage Kansai international, but there are plenty airports closer to Tokyo than Kansai that it would kind of be a non-issue.

Is the idea you pose that a third airport was constructed somewhere in the Tokyo area (maybe down towards Yokohama, a fair distance away but still able to serve Tokyo) in the same way that Kansai was constructed; ie. on a manmade island? Call it Kanto or something like that and you'd still be good, I would think.

Kansai IS absolutely gorgeous, btw.

>Not to be a fiddly bitch, but...

[fiddly bitching deleted for space]

Aw, but on a map it all looks so tidy and compact.

Oh well. Some days it doesn't pay to give in to the temptation to riff on an engineering failure.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

>Oh well. Some days it doesn't pay to give in to the temptation to
>riff on an engineering failure.
>

It would be a pretty spectacular one, though, wouldn't it? The whole damn island would probably disintegrate/liquify/turn into mud and fall apart, or break at one of the weak points that's already sinking slowly and kind of slide off into the sea like everyone thinks is going to happen to California...

LAST EDITED ON Feb-06-06 AT 00:08 AM (EST)
 
>>Oh well. Some days it doesn't pay to give in to the temptation to
>>riff on an engineering failure.
>>
>
>It would be a pretty spectacular one, though, wouldn't it? The whole
>damn island would probably disintegrate/liquify/turn into mud and fall
>apart, or break at one of the weak points that's already sinking
>slowly and kind of slide off into the sea like everyone thinks is
>going to happen to California...

I saw a show about Kansai airport on TV a while back (Discovery, TLC, one of those networks) - the dang thing is *already* sinking (or maybe just doing a lot of settling, depending on who's discussing it). They were showing how stairs that used to end at floor level in the basement now end some distance above the floor (they've put in additional "landings" at floor level so people don't hurt themselves on that last stairstep). IIRC, they were also showing the staff doing things with jacks. (The KIX official position on "settling" is at http://www.kiac.co.jp/english/land/010405.pdf)

According to http://airtransportbiz.free.fr/Markets/KIX.html, Kansai opened in 1995. By 1999 it had "subsided" over 8 meters (the initial estimate was only 5.8 meters total). It had also weathered a typhoon and the Kobe quake with only minor damage.

Jeanne

"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia

		Jeanne Hedge http://www.jhedge.com

>>Not to be a fiddly bitch, but...
>
>[fiddly bitching deleted for space]
>
>Aw, but on a map it all looks so tidy and compact.
>
>Oh well. Some days it doesn't pay to give in to the temptation to
>riff on an engineering failure.

If you're looking for an airport to sink during a Kanto quake, the article at http://airtransportbiz.free.fr/Markets/KIX.html mentions plans for an experimental project in Tokyo Bay known as "Megafloat", which was to study the feasibility of building a 3rd airport in the Kanto area around 2010. The Megafloat principle is to build an airport that actually floats on the sea, supported by heavy pillars rather than traditional landfill. I haven't heard if it's actually happened, but it might be worth looking into.

Hey, maybe that's what BGClassic's "Aqua City" was all about?... I don't recall it being ever explained, just that it was abandoned after their big quake.

Jeanne

"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia

		Jeanne Hedge http://www.jhedge.com