Alright, folks, let’s talk about tunnels. Specifically, a tunnel so big, so absurdly ambitious, that the only reasonable response when someone first proposed it should have been: “Are you out of your goddamn mind?” But no—this is Japan we’re talking about. They don’t back down from a challenge. They look at the impossible and say, “Hold my sake.”
So back in 1954, a ferry called the Tōya Maru sank in the Tsugaru Strait because, surprise, surprise, typhoons don’t care about your travel plans. Over a thousand people died, and Japan collectively decided, “Yeah, maybe we should stop putting our lives in the hands of an ocean that actively wants to kill us.” Thus began the greatest passive-aggressive response to Mother Nature in human history: THE SEIKAN TUNNEL.
Now, normal people would have taken a look at the swirling abyss of death that is the Tsugaru Strait and said, “Okay, let’s build a bridge.” But no, a bridge would’ve been too simple. Too logical. Instead, they said, “Let’s dig under the seafloor, through miles of rock, with nothing but determination and a deep-seated grudge against bad weather.” And that’s exactly what they did.
Seventeen years. SEVENTEEN YEARS of drilling through hell itself. They dealt with flooding, collapsing rock, and all the wonderful surprises that come with burrowing under the ocean. And people DIED doing this! Thirty-four workers! If there’s one thing that should tell you, “Hey, maybe don’t do this,” it’s when people start dying just trying to build the damn thing! But nope. Japan was committed.
And in 1988, after nearly two decades of flipping off geology, the Seikan Tunnel was finished: 33.46 miles of pure, unadulterated human stubbornness, connecting Honshu and Hokkaido whether the ocean liked it or not. And here’s the kicker: when they finally finished this masterpiece, guess what happened? AIR TRAVEL GOT CHEAPER. More people started flying instead. Unbelievable!
But today, the Seikan Tunnel stands as a monument to one undeniable fact: when human beings decide to defy nature, they don’t just push back. They grab a drill and say, “Let’s see who gives up first.”
