Once Japan’s second largest lake before the land reclamation, Hachiro Lagoon had a depth of 4.7m and a nearly flat bottom like a plate. The land reclamation created a 51.5km bank surrounding Ogata Village. With the activation of the drainage pump station in November 1963, the water level gradually began to sink and by September of the next year, an area of about 60km2 (6,000ha) of lake bottom was exposed, mainly on the west side of Hachiro Lagoon, where the water was shallower. Although this made up only 35% of the area to be reclaimed, 90% of the water had been drained. On September 15th, 1964, reclamation of the center of the lake began, and a “dry land ceremony” was held here, with most of those involved present. Finally, in 1969, to commemorate the greatest undertaking of the century, the Hachiro Lagoon Reclamation Monument was erected on a pedestal in the shape of Hachiro Lagoon.