"Mottainai" is a word that we use that means "wasteful" or "what a waste". In Hawaii, we would say "poho". I didn't realize this but the prized waterfall in Minoo is actually "fake".I was saddened to find out that when the city of Minoo or the Osaka prefecture (I'm not sure which) built a tunnel which now saves drivers 17 minutes to get from point a to b, apparently cut off several natural rivers and springs, including the one that supplies the falls. To remedy this, the city is now paying 34 million yen (about US $300,000) a year to run electrical pumps to pump in the water for the falls.
Many communities that were affected by this tunneling now say that their natural well water was contaminated and that they cannot drink from it anymore.
We don't own a car, so we don't know what value tunnels or roads have here. But, I can tell you it isn't worth saving 17 minutes to destroy something that was there hundreds of years before we were.
(Photo taken from the Minoo city website)
