1,800 people pulled a 400-ton castle with rope

Roughly 1,800 people took turns this month pulling a 400-ton castle keep back toward its original spot in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, using nothing but rope and their own weight. The move is part of a long restoration at Hirosaki Castle, where crews repaired stone walls damaged by a 1983 earthquake and uncovered remnants of an older wall, a well and drainage structures. Rotating groups of about 80 people tugged on nearly 100-foot ropes in short shifts. On August 22 they shifted the keep about four feet. The next day, about 3.5. "It's like trying to move a mountain," said Takahiro Kogawa, a Hirosaki resident who helped pull. Demand ran high. City official Kensuke Hayasaka said 8,000 people applied for 1,800 slots, some from Europe and North America. The keep dates to 1810 and is one of Japan's 12 surviving feudal-era towers. Once it is home, machines will handle the last 240 feet.