Hello, everyone.

This is Enta.

I was wondering what to write about for my blog, so I was looking through some old photos.

I just happened to have a photo where I accidentally put the date on it, lol

Here is a photo from 2003, taken during a lift-off test and unloading operation—which were probably quite rare in the industry at the time!

 

This was a disaster site managed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and I was the site supervisor for the first-tier subcontractor.

I remember having a very hard time with the slope work—everything except the cut itself.

 

In this case, the compression plate started to bend after the ground anchor was installed.

For that reason, we conducted a lift-off test to determine whether the mountain had shifted or the load-bearing plate had bent.

 

In fact, it was determined that the load-bearing plate had bent due to a gap between it and the zabuton frame, so the case was settled out of court.

Back then, I didn't like the results, so I got into a huge fight with the manufacturer lol (I was a young, rigid stickler who followed the textbook to the letter).

 

Even though the other pressure plates that were installed also had similar gaps, the conclusion was that it was a construction defect...

I was so mad when they said it was the contractor's fault, lol.

In the end, we ended up buying a new pressure plate at that job site... (Maybe it was used at another job site? ...I'll keep that to myself.)

 

If that were to come to light at every worksite across the country, that in itself would be an absolute disaster...

There are all kinds of things, aren't there? "Adult circumstances," as they say.

Here is a photo taken after cutting it open; the steel plate inside is bent.

This photo shows only a very small part of it, but there were also places where the welds had broken. (I still have all the photos from back then, lol.)

While there could be various causes, the reason given for this particular site was that the grade adjustment had not been done properly.

No reprimand from the government office—it just kind of got swept under the rug, lol (adult circumstances).

 

Right now, I’m really picky about leveling (lol) (based on experience).

As it turns out, that failure back then (really?) has served as a learning experience. (Back then, we used only Styrofoam—no mats.)

I've cracked tons of concrete precast compression plates and stuff like that in the past, so I've got plenty of experience lol.

 

Although this rarely happens these days, please be careful about uneven surfaces.

It's best to use a mat or something similar whenever possible.

Rather than cutting corners to save a little time and ending up with major revisions later, it’s more important to put in a little extra effort now to ensure peace of mind and build trust.

It’s certainly better not to fail, but failure does change the way you think about things afterward, doesn’t it?

I can really feel in my bones that this is exactly what they mean when they say there’s nothing wasted in experience.

 

See you later.

P.S. There are a lot of parenthetical notes in this post, but they're just my inner thoughts—don't worry about them lol