There are some who will say, "Come now, they wouldn't go so far as to do such unnecessary work in the Himalayas," but if this is so, then when all the construction work in the world has been completed and there is no more to be done, is it possible to think that the Ministry of Construction will disband itself, that the construction companies will go belly up, that the cement companies will close down, or that the part-time farmers will hang themselves? There is no doubt that when such a time comes they will carry out needless construction work like covering over the peaks of the Himalayas with concrete. There will be no end to construction work, and consequently the urbanization of the Earth's surface will continue until the ground disappears entirely. [2] Even now, in every place imaginable, they are building solid concrete walls in places where, they think, perhaps once in a thousand years there will be a landslide; they needlessly dig up bamboo groves which will most assuredly not be washed away, and stack up concrete blocks. There are instances in which by merest chance, such a place is visited by natural disaster, and they take the matter to court saying that it is the government's oversight. In actuality, however, the authorities, whom one would expect to be bitter over losing the case, are smiling contentedly. This is because the government has obtained proof of the need to pour astronomical sums of money into a totally needless construction project, the excuse being that one never knows when disaster will strike. Though the government and the construction companies openly plan and carry out needless construction projects everywhere so the contractors can profit, there is little fear that the citizens will ever take them to court over any of it. In addition, the government uses construction projects to stimulate the economy. Using construction bonds as a convenient cover, it spurts out wads of money (merely in order to make it circulate a little better), dig up our precious land, and cover it over with concrete. [3] Why must they go to such lengths to stimulate the economy? It is for no other reason than to facilitate the even greater activities of the secondary and tertiary industries, which results in the waste, contamination, and destruction of the city. Chapter I Notes 1 It is possible to modernize agriculture (a primary industry) as well, but this becomes possible only with the intervention of the secondary and tertiary industries. Agriculture is meant to be in accord with the cycle of Nature; it is supposed to be ceaseless repetition. 2 Indeed, this has already been realized in Japan, for the Ministry of Construction is building a gargantuan concrete embankment on Mt. Fuji, Japan's highest. (Translator's note) 3