Japan just experienced a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. On Kyushu's elevated highways, there were displacements at the bridge joints, but no entire sections collapsed onto the ground. Took a closer look, and there's some serious engineering behind this. What would happen if this were in our country? This phenomenon is due to Japan's "Controlled Failure" design standards for highway bridges. After the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, Japan revised its *Road Design Specifications* to mandate the installation of "anti-collapse devices" on elevated bridges. These devices use connecting rods, stopper blocks, and larger support surfaces to absorb energy by sacrificing secondary connection points when a strong earthquake exceeds the structure's load limit. This locks the relative position of the piers and trusses, preventing the bridge deck from completely collapsing to the ground. Traditional engineering approaches focus on increasing material rigidity to achieve "no failure," but this can lead to sudden, brittle fractures during extreme earthquakes, causing severe secondary disasters and casualties. Anti-collapse technology, on the other hand, predefines structural failure paths, allowing for controlled local deformation to maintain the overall structure in a suspended state. This reduces rescue obstacles and prevents major thoroughfares below from being blocked. https://(x.com)/nhk_news/status/2082028702133891434/video/1