"Sushi" on a pedestrian crossing sign. A car driving under a "huge steel tower". We also tracked down the mystery of strange sights seen in the city, such as a "very narrow tunnel" where a small car can barely pass through, and a huge "mysterious sign" floating in the night sky of Ariake. ■ Mysterious "Sushi" sign on a pedestrian crossing There is a sign with the word "Sushi" written on it on a pedestrian crossing in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture. What on earth does it mean? A local resident: "It looks like foreigners would be happy to take pictures of it." "It's not a meal, so what is it? I have no idea what it means." So what about the sign that says "Pigeon"? A local resident: "Maybe it means that pigeon droppings fall from the electric wires or something like that." "Watch out for pigeons"... it's not. The correct answer is that the sign for the road narrowing and the sign for "Togata Road Intersection" were accidentally upside down, so it read "Pigeon". Another mysterious "Sushi". What do you think it is? A local taxi driver says, "Signs you can see while driving" Looking at the median strip, there are a total of nine signs. Reading from the direction of travel, the top one reads "Otose Speed!!" and the bottom one reads "Fasten your seatbelt." In the middle is the character for "sushi." A series of coincidences has created a mysterious sight. ■Why is it here? A steel tower in the middle of the road A steel tower stands in Konosu City, Saitama Prefecture. At first glance, it looks like an ordinary steel tower, but it is actually located in the middle of the road. It is a strange sight as cars pass underneath it. Don't be surprised yet! After driving a little further, another steel tower appears in the middle of the road. But that's not all. In Konosu City, there is an unusual sight of a road passing underneath three steel towers. The towers are about 43 meters tall. Why on earth would a steel tower be located in the middle of the road? Local resident: "(Q. Why was it built?) There is a company called Fuji Electric. It's a power line just for that purpose." The tower was built to send electricity to the electric manufacturer's factory. A local resident showed me something. Local resident: "It says there." Announcer Sayaka Masuda: "1974." Local resident: "It must have been built then." The tower was built 50 years ago. Even when we asked TEPCO, we couldn't find out the details. However, the 97-year-old father, who has lived here for more than 50 years, remembered the past. Toshio Harada (97), who has lived here for more than 50 years: "(Q. What was the area like when the tower was built?) Fields and rice paddies. The road was originally here. It's not as wide as this, but about half of it." Looking at aerial photos from the 1960s, there was nothing where the tower stands today. The tower was completed in 1974. Two years later, houses were built around it. Experts speculate that the reason why the steel tower was built in the middle of the road is because they assumed that a house would be built there. Professor Toshiya Yoshida of the Faculty of Engineering at Tokyo Denki University: "The biggest reason is to make effective use of the land. They probably thought that the construction of the steel tower would not put a strain on the lives of the citizens." ■ Who will use it? Beyond the "Very Narrow Tunnel" The extremely narrow tunnel is located in Kakegawa City, Shizuoka Prefecture. The taxi carrying the reporting team stopped at a place 10 minutes by car from the station. Announcer Masuda: "There is a road." The taxi driver: "You might be able to get there in a minicar." The road is narrow, and a regular car cannot go any further. Up ahead was an extremely narrow tunnel. We called out to a nearby resident who owns a minicar. Local resident: "I can't guarantee your life, but if you don't mind me driving," the woman said she had driven through the tunnel before. Right in front of us was the extremely narrow tunnel "Iwaya Zuido," which even the local residents fear. The height limit is 1.7 meters. Local resident: "We'll fold up the mirror from here." Masuda: "Isn't that a drum can?" Local resident: "This is bad." Masuda: "Scary. There's so much above and on the sides." This is the most difficult part of the extremely narrow tunnel. Partway through, the rocks become exposed and it gets even narrower. The roof of the light truck grazes against the rock. Local resident: "Wow, this is where it hits. If we just turn around." Masuda: "Even in driving school, they don't teach such difficult roads." It takes about six minutes to carefully navigate the 67-meter-long tunnel. Masuda: "Wow, we got through!" Local resident: "Yes, we did it!" Masuda: "That was amazing." This extremely narrow tunnel is so narrow that some people even come to see it. Who built it and why? We asked Yoshiro Kobayashi, who was involved in compiling the local history. Kobayashi: "The tunnel was built by hand by the people of the past because it was necessary for daily life." The tunnel was built in the Meiji era as a shortcut to connect villages. Before this, people traveled around the mountain. The tunnel was dug by hand from both sides... Kobayashi: "The ceiling is higher on this side. The difference in height was caused by people who were not professional." Then, he discovered a "mysterious side hole" inside the tunnel. Kobayashi: "I wonder if it was used as an air raid shelter." The number of people using the extremely narrow tunnel is decreasing year by year, probably because the surrounding villages are aging. ■ Useful? A "mysterious sign" floating in the night Next is a "mysterious sign" floating in the night. What do you think it is? A man who saw the mysterious sign: "So that an airplane or something doesn't hit it?" A woman who saw the mysterious sign: "What does it mean? I have no idea." The mysterious sign that has passersby scratching their heads can be seen in Ariake, Tokyo. It is actually very useful. Upon closer inspection, the number of red lights had increased. The mysterious sign appears on the chimney of the Ariake Incineration Plant. Yuta Hachiya, technical staff at the Ariake Incineration Plant, says, "The thing reflected on the chimney is actually a clock." The mysterious sign was a clock. However... Hachiya, technical staff, says, "People who come to visit say, 'I don't know how to read (the clock)'." So let me teach you how to read the clock. The vertical bars of the "yellow light" represent "minutes" and increase every 5 minutes. The "red light" represents "hours" and increases every hour. A woman sees the mysterious sign and asks, "A clock?" The clock the woman is looking at shows 8:30. A woman sees the mysterious sign and asks, "So then it's 8 o'clock now, right? That might be useful." [TV Asahi News] https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp