Horyu-ji and Tokyo Skytree
In 1985 the Japanese Patent Office celebrated the 100th anniversary of the industrial property system in Japan.
On this occasion, they selected the 10 greatest inventions by Japanese.
The ten inventors are:
Sakichi Toyoda
Patent Number 1195, Wooden Weaving Machine Driven by Human Power
Kokichi Mikimoto
Patent Number 2670, Cultured pearl
Jokichi Takamine
Patent Number 4785, Adrenaline
Kikunae Ikeda
Patent Number 14805, Sodium Glutamate
Umetaro Suzuki
Patent Number 20785, Vitamin B1
Kyota Sugimoto
Patent Number 27877, Japanese typewriter
Kotaro Honda
Patent Number 32234, KS Steel
Hidetsugu Yagi
Patent Number 69115, Yagi Antenna
Yasujiro Niwa
Patent Number 84722, Phototelegraphic Method
Tokushichi Mishima
Patent Number 96371, MKM steelBut the greatest invention in Japan is undoubtedly Horyu-ji Temple, the world oldest existent wooden structure. This Buddhist temple、31.5 meters tall, is thought to have been built in 607, though there were no reliable records about its foundation. However, it is truly phenomenal that a wooden five-story pagoda survived 1400 years in Japan which has suffered an uncountable number of earthquakes and typhoons in these 1400 years. So, many Japanese engineers and scientists have studied secrets of structure of Horyu-ji.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Japanese_Great_Inventors
There are several unique features in the structure of Horyu-ji Temple. But the most outstanding element is a huge vertical wooden pillar which is connected at the top layer of the pagoda to support the pinnacle but suspended without being fixed to other layers; it is placed only on a big stone in the ground. This pillar runs through the center of the structure from the top roof to the underground about 6 meters below the ground surface. However, today its underground part is rotten and lost, so that this pillar is actually dangling from the roof.
This pillar method is today applied to the Tokyo Skytree tower completed in 2012 as the world tallest self-standing tower (634 meters high). This structure element fortifies the anti-earthquake property of Tokyo Skytree. When the M9.0 earthquake occurred under the Pacific 400 km northeast of Tokyo in March 2011, the tower was almost completed and could well withstand the mighty earthquake. No damage was found in Tokyo Skytree after big vibrations of the ground.
It is because the character frequency of the central pillar is different from natural frequencies of other structural elements around the pillar, movements of the pillar and other elements caused by an earthquake cancel each other out. So, the tower can stand stable while receiving big energy of an earthquake.
http://subal-m45.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2012/05/post-92eb.html
The original structure of Horyu-ji had been first developed in China and Korea. But both the countries have no such old wooden temples today. The Horyu-ji type of wooden pagodas in other countries were all burnt or demolished through long history in those countries. But only Japan could preserve it to date for 1400 years, partly because the capital of Japan was moved from Nara, where Horyu-ji was built, to Kyoto in 794. Since then, Nara or Yamato Area, 500 km west of Tokyo, became less important politically. Civil wars were not fought in Nara in later centuries. It could at least avoid human-generated calamities.
Anyway, it will be difficult for any new inventions today to survive 1400 years.
So, the best thing in Japan is not necessarily in Tokyo.
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Gen 9:11 And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Gen 9:12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
Gen 9:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
Gen 9:14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
Gen 9:15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Gen 9:16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
Gen 9:17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.