Utility poles and crisscrossing overhead power lines are a common feature of the landscape in most parts of Japan. These eyesores are not worthy of an advanced economy and are also disappointing tourists from abroad. Burying power cables will not only aesthetically improve urban landscapes but also make towns and cities more resilient to major disasters. Now the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are providing an impetus to efforts to remove utility poles in the capital and bury power cables underground. The government and the Diet should take steps to promote similar efforts across the country.
The metropolitan government adopted a plan in 2014 to bury power lines in central Tokyo areas where venues for the Olympics will be concentrated. In a recent policy speech, Gov. Yuriko Koike expressed her resolve to push efforts to move the capital's power grid underground. The efforts in Tokyo, if they bear fruit, should help promote similar moves in other parts of the country.
Work to move power lines underground remains slow. Japan already has more than 35 million utility poles and their number continues to increase by about 70,000 each year. Tokyo's 23 wards are the most advanced areas in terms of moving the power grid underground, but only 7 percent of their roads have been cleared of utility poles. Comparisons with other countries show just how far Japan lags behind in the introduction of subterranean power distribution systems. In London and Paris, all power lines were installed underground even from before World War II. Among Asian cities, Hong Kong has all its power lines underground, while Seoul has buried 46 percent of its electricity cables.