We may have passed the point at which concrete outweighs that of all the trees, shrubs and grasses on this planet.

Our man made creations have been steadily covering over the land since the Roman Empire but it wasn’t till the devastations of the Second World War that countries began looking to the structural substance to bandaid the broken nations of conflict. 

Japan was one such country in desperate need of healing and it’s enthusiasm to accept concrete as the solution for cheap, efficient and sturdy construction pushed the country into rapid economic growth in the second half of the 20th century. 

Concrete was at the heart of the growing economy as a hand full of companies were offered lucrative contracts by politicians eager to maintain the prosperous visions of a nation. 

This mix takes a concrete mixer and trawls across Japan’s carefully sculpted landscape. Looking at the perilous boundaries where friction lies between the natural environment and human intervention, as coastal lines are barricaded in, river beds streamlined into smooth speedways and ideas of old morph into something new, as traditions such as Mujo (impermanence) take on new meaning in an age of human and environmental devastation.

Come take a trip over concrete Japan.