Japan has seen a number of soured public works projects now grappling with snowballing debts, ranging from toll expressways, gigantic bridges, airports and empty ports with huge container facilities.
A common feature of the failed projects was an optimistic demand projection made by bureaucrats that justified the initial master plans, only to turn out to be way off the mark when the facilities were opened after years of costly construction.
Some former senior government officials recently told The Japan Times that these projection "mistakes" were not accidental, at least for two very symbolic and notoriously debt-ridden projects: the Aqualine expressway connecting Tokyo and Chiba, and the Honshu-Shikoku bridges linking Shikoku with Honshu.