A Japanese consortium to build a Vertical Telescopic Breakwater (VTB), for Shimotsu Harbour. Obayashi Corporation, TOA Corporation, & Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Bridge & Steel Structures Engineering Co., Ltd. (MBE) a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI),will begin construction of a Vertical Telescopic Breakwater (VTB), a buoyancy-driven vertical piling breakwater, in the harbor at Shimotsu in Wakayama Prefecture. Construction is scheduled to begin in early October 2012. The breakwater system is designed to swiftly rise from the sea bottom in the event of tsunami, and contribute to prevention or mitigation of tsunami impact to harbors and coastal areas. When completed, it will be the first such movable steel pipe breakwater system in the world.