Extreme rain is testing Japan’s flood defences

Matsudo, Chiba Pref. - When Shuji Nishizawa and his wife bought their semi-basement apartment in 2003, the tiled garden terrace was the main draw. On Aug. 13, it became the floodwater’s way in.Now, pointing to muddy lines that run across the walls 1.8 meters above the floor of his apartment, Nishizawa, 60, explains how the water rapidly rose during the torrential downpour that struck his neighborhood that evening.Nishizawa, a self-employed web specialist, was in the…