A busy stretch of road in the Japanese city of Fukuoka has been reopened just days after the sudden emergence of a giant sinkhole which threatened to topple nearby buildings.
The massive hole – which was roughly half the size of an Olympic swimming pool – opened up during construction work on the city's underground network.
In typical Japanese fashion, an earnest apology was issued immediately for the disruption, and a group of men put to work around the clock to clear up the mess.
Just two days later, there is barely any sign that the sinkhole ever existed, construction workers having filled it in with generous amounts of cement before painting over the tarmac.
Soichiro Takashima, the mayor of Fukuoka, even claimed the street was now 30 times stronger than before and said a panel of experts was being called in to establish what went wrong in the first place.
"We’re very sorry for causing great trouble," he added.
The busy street where the hole emerged was reopened for traffic at 5am on Tuesday morning, with a fresh set of power and gas lines installed beneath it.
It marks the latest example of Japan's remarkable efficiency in fixing problems with infrastructure – something that did not go unnoticed by British users of social media on Tuesday.
"Manchester sink hole took 10 months to fix... Japan fixes vast Fukuoka city sinkhole – in two days," Charlie Morrison wrote on Twitter.
Mr Morrisson was referring to a large hole that appeared on Mancunian Way which, according to the Manchester Evening News, cost £6m to repair.
The 40ft crater appeared on the road following a night of heavy rain.
