Coal, medicine, trains top Tokyo's Asia infrastructure plan

Six decades ago, through the “tenacity of the Japanese engineers who grappled in the dense forest with large snakes, elephants and tigers,”

Sounds like something that might have been said in the 19th century. Haven't we moved on from "grappling" with nature? I guess this project was in the mould of ruthlessly turning the perfectly beautiful and endangered into just another machine input. Perhaps even six decades ago it could have been forgiven or at least overlooked but I would seriously hope and wish we had moved on from such unenlightened language now.