# the "Japanese Pyramids" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 12, 1999, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949 "1999-11-12T01:35:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/1 "1999-11-12T01:35:00Z")
Ladies and gentlemen, the “Japanese Pyramids”: [http://home.interpath.com/aztlan/brainrape/html/japanese\_pyramids.html](http://home.interpath.com/aztlan/brainrape/html/japanese_pyramids.html)_(or go to your favorite search engine and type in “japanese pyramids”.)_ I would like to know what people think of this discovery, and what it may mean in the context of world history. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/2 "1999-11-12T01:48:00Z")
Well, I’m no geologist, but the sketch and the photos at that page look like joint bounded blocks of basalt, similar to the Giant’s Causeway of Great Britain. I didn’t find it on that site, but what makes them think it is artificial? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/3 "1999-11-12T02:00:00Z")
I had heard of this before. There was a special on TLC or Discovery about ancient archaeology and this site was mentioned, and they had some video. The main problem with the show was that it was hosted by (and based on the works of Graham Hancock). The main thrust of the show was that many cultures have a link to something that occured 10,500 BCE. He sites astronomical alignments at the pyramids in Egypt and the site of Angkor Wat as representing this date. Hancock tried to place this site in same context, but there had been no archaelogy done at the site at that time, and I don’t think anyone has studied it yet. I don’t know what it is, but it does need to be looked at. On the other hand it may just be Atlantis 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/4 "1999-11-12T02:07:00Z")
## Can’t be Atlantis, adam. In the Pacific it has to be Mu. Or possibly R’lyeh. Do the angles of those cyclopean ruins look non-euclidean to you? Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University “You cannot reason a man out of a position he did not reach through reason.” ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/5 "1999-11-12T02:17:00Z")
Non-euclidean angles? You mean parallel lines that meet at infinity? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/6 "1999-11-12T02:19:00Z")
I loved this little disclaimer that shows up on every photo page: > [@](#): > > Photo’s NOT by permission.  Photos were taken from where ever I could find them. In the idea of the free flow of information Gee! Photos! _Where’d they come from?_ Can’t tell ya. _Who took them?_ Can’t tell ya. \*Who’s _are_ they?[/] Can’t tell ya. But there is a conspiracy of silence surrounding this great find! _You’re the one that’s not talking._ * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/7 "1999-11-12T02:38:00Z")
It doesn’t seem that University of the Ryukyus has an archaeology department, but my Japanese is a little rusty and I may have overlooked something. [http://www.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/](http://www.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/) Although the pyramid site did refer to “Ryukyu University” which may be a different institution. I have been unable to find anything about “Ryukyu University.” ---
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/8 "1999-11-12T07:10:00Z")
This sounds like a future Art Bell program topic to me… ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/9 "1999-11-12T08:21:00Z")
Wow, the pictures showed absolutely nothing. I saw things that looked like steps, but they were really uneven. All in all, I’m inclined to think this is a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/10 "1999-11-12T13:40:00Z")
Mu, definitely; R’lyeh would be further south and east than southern Japan. Though there is some clear linguistic connection between R’lyeh and Ryukyu (or Liu Kiu, an older term for the islands). It was to be expected. Ever since they found Atlantis off the Bimini group, you could anticipate additional anomalous underwater finds. Now if we find that a legendary Okinawan demigod-ruler was named Ki-Tu-Lu, we’ve got real problems! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 1999, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-japanese-pyramids/16949/11 "1999-11-16T23:50:00Z")
The joints in igneous rock formations often look man-made. I’ll go with DrFidelius’s explanation.