Japan's Wall

MIYAKO, JAPAN - AUGUST 01: A car is parked next to a newly-built concrete seawall in Taro Bay near Miyako, one of the towns hit by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, on August 01, 2019 near Miyako, Japan. Since the devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that killed close to 16,000 people, Japan has spent around $12 billion on the construction of 245 miles of seawall along its north east coast. Reaching up to 12.5 metres in height, the walls block views and limit access to the sea for tourists, local residents and people whose livelihoods depend on the ocean. Concerns have also been raised about the environmental impact on the local ecology, but the walls have nevertheless been built in the hope of reducing the destructive effect of another tsunami. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)