Kirk here. The history of the controversy surrounding the Kawabegawa dam goes back decades. It’s something we’ve discussed on the page many times in past years. I won’t try to review the history but I’ll add a few links to the bottom of this article for those who might be interested.
https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2020111900164/
Scrapped dam may have limited flood damage from Kumamoto rains https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/08/26/national/kuma-river-dam-flood-damage-kumamoto/
Some previous Kumamoto International posts that include the word “Kawabegawa”: https://www.facebook.com/page/123734781033296/search?q=kawabegawa
English summary of governor’s statement from in which he said that “we should withdraw the existing plan for the Kawabe-Gawa dam, and should pursue other flood control measures which do not require the construction of a dam” (that is, the opposite of his most recent decision): https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/uploaded/attachment/17697.pdf
The last pdf is not dated, as it should be. I can’t recall offhand the date of the decision but it’s been about a decade now, I think. Until today, I wasn’t not aware of the existence of such an English summary. I think it’s an interesting historical document in view of recent events.
