Kanálisok · city chapter

Tokyo

Engineering and urban culture

Part of the Kanda sewer built in 1884 is still in use today. Its construction was hastened by severe cholera epidemics in the 1870s and 1880s; Tokyo’s first modern sewage treatment plant began operating at Mikawashima in 1922.

Manhole cover from this city

Tokyo beneath the surface

Tokyo’s first modern sewer system was built in the Kanda district in 1884. Major development, however, did not begin until after the end of the Second World War.

Some of Tokyo’s underground drainage systems extend several storeys deep and are monumental in scale.

Photo gallery