A roughly ¥300 million monument called the “One Health Carbon Gate,” built in Chikugo City, Fukuoka Prefecture with the cooperation of architect Kengo Kuma, has sparked heated debate on 5ch following an Asahi Shimbun report. Assembly Speaker Kurauchi said the monument “will be appreciated in the future,” but thread posters repeatedly questioned whether the construction cost was justified and raised concerns about maintenance expenses.
¥300 Million Monument: Speaker Kurauchi Says “It Will Be Appreciated in the Future” — Kengo Kuma Collaborated [Fukuoka Prefecture]: Asahi Shimbun
August 21, 2026, 7:30 PM
Paid article — Ryo Sasaki
Source: asahi.com / Original article here
No doubt about it.
It's Kuma everywhere you look, literally (a pun: 隈なく/kumanaku means "thoroughly, everywhere," playing on the "Kuma" in his name).
You know his buildings are designed so you can't get any repairs done without going through his own firm, right?
Uh, it's already in its 4th year though?
He gets to keep skimming off the ongoing maintenance costs.
Wait, it's NOT made of wood?!
The One Health Carbon Gate, built at a cost of about ¥280 million — Chikugo City, Fukuoka Prefecture
So THIS is what ¥300 million buys.
Looks like about ¥30 million worth to me.
They're skimming so much it's almost impressive.
Why not just slap a gold plaque on it that says "¥280 Million Monument by Kengo Kuma"?
I'll even chip in about ¥5 million for it.
That's what you'd think, right?
But this one's even worse.
There's gotta be some kind of racket going on with these guys.
He's got a track record, so everyone knows what they're getting and it's easy to work with him.
Track record of what, you ask?
it's painted, so after a while they'll rack up costs repainting it (´･ω･`)
Since it's painted, I'm skeptical it's actually carbon fiber.
Stuff like this factors in "idle time" costs for the periods with no work coming in, so of course it's pricier.
If you've got a problem with it, you could've just started your own company and bid lower.
That's about the intellectual ceiling of the "it's all skimming" crowd 😩
Well, what's built is built, so how about we put up a plaque listing:
the cost paid from taxes,
who decided to place the order,
and the representative of the company that got the contract.
and it's notoriously unpopular because it's such a pain to actually use.
Fun fact: Kengo Kuma actually lost the competition for his own hometown Kamakura's new city hall building.
Pick your jobs more carefully, man.
What if "Kengo Kuma the architect" doesn't actually exist, and it's just a public front name for the government to embezzle money?
If it's reasonable, there's nothing to fear.
They set a budget estimate and put it out for bid, so of course it's "reasonable."
And since the amount would've needed assembly approval to contract, who exactly is supposed to be afraid here?
You can walk through it, right?
Who even is this guy? His name keeps popping up everywhere —
the Expo, some regional city hall…
Is he like a big shot in the construction world or something?
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “[Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly] ¥300 Million Monument: Speaker Kurauchi Says ‘It Will Be Appreciated in the Future’ — Kengo Kuma Collaborated”.
Leave a Reply