The remains of the famous Maruzen bookstore located in Nihombashi district of Tokyo after fire. Required fields are marked *. Ministers of state who guarded their administrative budgets and responsibilities with fierce determination were thus pitted against a wide-ranging reconstruction program for fear that this would reduce the future budgetary health of the bureaucracies under their jurisdiction. 5 File Number 131-600, "Collection of 1923 Japan earthquake massacre testimonies released", "Ethnic Korean filmmaker ends 30-year hiatus to tackle massacreThe Asahi Shimbun", "Sewage Disposal and Typhoid Fever: the Case of Tokyo 19121940", "The Big Ones by Lucy Jones | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books", "The Great Earthquake and Fire in Japan: An Interpretation", "The 1923 Kant earthquake reevaluated using a newly augmented geodetic data set", 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake Fire Tornado Video, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1923_Great_Kant_earthquake&oldid=1141622422, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Japanese-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2017, Articles with trivia sections from August 2020, Commons category link is defined as the pagename, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Aldrich, Daniel P. "Social, not physical, infrastructure: the critical role of civil society after the 1923 Tokyo earthquake. The tidal wave swept out a great section of the village near the beach, wrote Henry W. Kinney, a Tokyo-based editor for Trans-Pacific magazine. ThoughtCo. | READ MORE. After a brief time there, she's sent back to the already destroyed Tokyo, and she, alongside her soon-to-be love interest Seiji Horie and two young boys named Hideo and Kenichi, is taken in by a friend of the late Takao, Dr. Oikawa. In short, the new Tokyo would be the model high modernist city that could serve as a blueprint for all future urban renewal projects in Japan. I regret, however, to see that the government ignores the issues of rural areas which may jeopardize the foundation of the nation. Moreover, the earthquake caused nearly 6.5 billion yen of damage, a remarkable figure roughly four times larger than Japans national budget for 1922. Because the earthquake struck when people were cooking meals, many were killed as a result of large fires that broke out. "The Great Kanto Earthquake in Japan, 1923." Even smaller scale reconstruction plans that ranged from 1.3 billion to 3 billion yen were met with labels of reckless, dangerous, or problematic by financial and political officialsincluding the Minister of Finance, Inoue Junnosuke.19 An adherent to the classical liberal economic view that times of depression or recession warranted a retrenchment of government expenditures, Inoue refused to raise new taxes for Tokyos reconstruction and, in 1924, only after considerable pressure, agreed to release public bonds to finance reconstruction.20 Moreover, Inoue required that all other ministries of state prune their proposed budgets for 1924 and 1925 to cover part of the anticipated costs for reconstructing Tokyo. Attracting entrepreneurs, fugitives, traders, spies and drifters from every corner of the world, the port rose like a mirage in the desert, wrote one Japanese novelist. There is evidence suggesting that the fire whirl in the Hifukusho-ato area, during the 1923 Great Kant earthquake, was of type 3. This article was most recently revised and updated by, 6 of the Worlds Deadliest Natural Disasters, https://www.britannica.com/event/Tokyo-Yokohama-earthquake-of-1923. Within hours of the catastrophe, rumors spread that Korean immigrants were poisoning wells and using the breakdown of authority to plot the overthrow of the Japanese government. Go Nagai's manga Violence Jack is set in a scenario in which a gigantic earthquake called 'The Great Kanto Hellquake', reminiscent of the 1923 earthquake, devastates Tokyo and severs the Kanto region from the rest of Japan, as well as cutting it off from the outside world. Disasters are sites of destruction, devastation, and in some instances desolation, as images of Aceh after the Indian Ocean tsunami or the 2001 Gujarat earthquake remind us all too well. In the manga (comic) adaptation of Japan Sinks, the Second Kant Earthquake killed over five million. Updates? The total death toll from the disaster is estimated at about 142,800. In Yuu Watase's 2017 josei manga Fushigi Ygi Byakko Senki, the heroine Suzuno Osugi enters The Universe of the Four Gods for the first time right after the earthquake: her father Takao, who is dying from injuries he suffered when the family house fatally collapsed on him and Suzuno's mother Tamayo, orders her to do so, so she will survive the disaster and its aftermath. These representatives likewise opposed virtually all plans to condemn, readjust, and rezone large areas of burnt-out Tokyo without adequate compensation, not only in order to uphold the interests of private land owners who they represented, but also because many MPs believed that such state intervention was well beyond the purview of proper state authority in a parliamentary democracy. According to some estimates, the death toll was as high as 6,000. The Kant Massacre began on the day of the earthquake. Using the post-earthquake reconstruction period opportunistically, politicians implemented a series of anti-luxury tariffs on goods politicians deemed extravagant or wasteful. It moved Tokyo into the ranks of world metropolises., University of Melbourne historian J. Charles Schencking sees the rebuilding of Tokyo as a metaphor for something larger. Terms of Use People take refuge on a Nihonbashi street in Japan in 1923. Once in place, soldiers established relief camps, temporary medical facilities, constructed seventy-four temporary bridges, cleared 130 miles of roads for the transportation and distribution of food and water from neighboring prefectures, and collected and burned the corpses of the dead. In the animated series, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, the Sagami Trough ruptures in a magnitude-8.0 earthquake, killing over 200,000 in Tokyo, causing floods and fires, and putting the main character at risk. The initial jolt was followed a few minutes later by a 40-foot-high tsunami. DISCLAIMER: This website was created for educational purposes. Natural disasters are often used by elites for political, ideological, or economic purposes, and Japan in 1923 was no exception.13 Many Japanese elites, including bureaucrats and politicians, religious leaders, social commentators, and journalists, publicly described the earthquake as divine punishment for clear political and ideological purposes relevant to the time. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. In 1960, on the 37th anniversary of the quake, the government declared September 1 an annual "Disaster Prevention Day". The Great Kant earthquake (, Kant dai-jishin; Kant -jishin) struck the Kant Plain on the main Japanese island of Honsh at 11:58:44 JST (02:58:44 UTC) on Saturday, September 1, 1923.Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. Preparing for a massive quake. The earthquake also exposed the darker side of humanity. The initial jolt, lasting just over fourteen seconds, collapsed most of the brick and un-reinforced concrete buildings throughout the Kant region. Particularly, the tendency of sexual slackness was deplorable: there were so many scandalous events, and, some part of the society obviously acknowledged it affirmatively. [38] Independent reports said the number of dead was far higher, ranging from 6,000 to 10,000. Image of Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan, after the September 1, 1923 earthquake. [44] Socialists such as Hirasawa Keishichi[ja] (), anarchists such as Sakae sugi and Noe It, and the Chinese communal leader, Kiten[ja] (), were abducted and killed by local police and Imperial Army, who claimed the radicals intended to use the crisis as an opportunity to overthrow the Japanese government. [19][20][21], An extreme example of a fire whirl is the 1923 Great Kant earthquake in Japan, which ignited a large city-sized firestorm which in turn produced a gigantic fire whirl that killed 38,000 people in fifteen minutes in the Hifukusho-Ato region of Tokyo. Many whirlwinds were produced by the four-day-long firestorm coincident with conditions that produced severe thunderstorms, in which the larger fire whirls carried debris 5km (3.1mi) away. Japanese commentators interpreted the disaster as an act of divine punishment to admonish the Japanese people for their self-centered, immoral, and extravagant lifestyles. On the night of The Akasaka district, one of Tokyos residential areas, lies in ruins after the 7.9 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 1, 1923. okyo and Yokohama, Japan, Earthquake September 1, 1923. Aria's birth mother is severely injured by debris and later dies, and this triggers a subplot about Aria's own heritage. The earthquake happens just as the marriage between Akiko and her fianc Kiyosu Saionji is announced. She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U.S. and South Korea. The following 27 files are in this category, out of 27 total. [16] A broader classification of fire whirls suggested by Forman A. Williams includes five different categories:[17], The meteorological community views some fire-induced phenomena as atmospheric phenomena. [11] The phenomenon was first verified in the 2003 Canberra bushfires and has since been verified in the 2018 Carr Fire in California and 2020 Loyalton Fire in California and Nevada. Susanna Hoffman, After Atlas Shrugs: Cultural Change or Persistence After a Disaster, in, Sat Hiroshi et al., Earthquake Source Fault Beneath Tokyo, Science 309:5733 (15 July 2005), 462465. The Taisho Emperor and Empress Teimei were on holiday in the mountains, and so escaped the disaster. For the next three days, Yonemura sent a stream of reports that alerted the world to the unfolding tragedy. The Great Kanto Earthquake obliterated all of that in a single afternoon. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and ten minutes. a fire tornado or 'dragon twist', which demolished the Honjo Clothing Depot, whose fate is one of the more harrowing tales of the 1923 disaster. Fire whirls can uproot trees that are 15m (49ft) tall or more. In Miyaos mind, old Tokyo had been recreated.26. Many People sit on street car railway in front of their crushed houses in Japan 1923 after an earthquake. Nishimura Goun (18771938),a Kyoto painter known for his soft, lyrical renderings of birds, fish, animals, andflowers, turned to the earthquake as the subject for this handscroll, which he completed two years afterward. "Voices of vulnerability and resilience: children and their recollections in post-earthquake Tokyo. Frank Lloyd Wright received credit for designing the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, to withstand the quake, although in fact the building was damaged, though standing, by the shock. He suggested, moreover, that the urban districts that housed Tokyos pleasure quarters and commercial enterprisesareas which he concluded were covered with the dust called sin in which extravagance, merrymaking, vanity, luxury, and desire dominatedreceived the brunt of Gods wrath.16 Rather than curse God, however, Okutani suggested that God had done Japan a favor: he pointed out the weaknesses in, if not failings of, Japanese society and provided a unique opportunity to pull together and rebuild the capital as well as reconstruct the popular mind.17 To Okutani and others, such as social welfare activist and Christian socialist Abe Is and economist Fukuda Tokuz, the earthquake was, if interpreted and used correctly, a blessing, a golden, once-in-a-generation opportunity. In the historical fantasy novel Teito Monogatari (Hiroshi Aramata) a supernatural explanation is given for the cause of the Great Kant earthquake, connecting it with the principles of feng shui. Although Goun was a Kyoto artist, his scenesseem to be based on first-handobservation. As moments when societies are at their most vulnerable, disasters give opportunists the illusion that a clean slate exists or that a brave new world or unprecedented beginning awaits a city, people, a nation, if only the opportunity is harnessed and used correctly. Blue whirls are partially premixed flames that reside elevated in the recirculation region of the vortex-breakdown bubble. The damage from this natural disaster was one of the greatest sustained by Imperial Japan. But do they fundamentally change underlying patterns of behavior or overturn society as much as the physical destruction they often cause? the Japanese economy in the Great Kant earthquake of 1923. [42] A monument commemorating this was built in 1993 in Wenzhou. Enclosed find a few snaps taken on the top of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo which is the only hotel in the earthquake district that survived. J.H. Your email address will not be published. The Kant Massacre began on the day of the earthquake. Buildings across the streets are burning and billowing smoke and flame from an earthquake that hit. ", Clancey, Gregory. At that time Yuzuki was in Tokyo visiting a friend, causing Tamahiko to worry, and follow her to Tokyo. The Great Kant earthquake (, Kant dai-jishin; Kant -jishin)[11][12] struck the Kant Plain on the main Japanese island of Honsh at 11:58:44 JST (02:58:44 UTC) on Saturday, September 1, 1923. The first shock hit at 11:58 a.m., emanating from a seismic fault six miles beneath the floor of Sagami Bay, 30 miles south of Tokyo. A good idea of the tremendous devastation in Tokyo wrought by earthquake and fire. Claiming that while he had implemented disciplinary measures for all civil servants making them models of frugality to the general public, and passed laws concerning import tariffs on luxurious items, the evil habits of extravagance and self-indulgence still existed, overwhelming the beautiful customs of hardworking frugality.30 He therefore urged all Japanese to pull together, be alert, and stand up with determination [in order] to improve the destiny of the nation.31 Kat, and other politicians after him, eventually realized that such campaigns were, in essence, pitted in an uphill battle against the conveniences and attractions of modern, urban, consumer-oriented society. The date was September 1, 1923, and the event was the Great Kanto Earthquake, at the time considered the worst natural disaster ever to strike quake-prone Japan. The 2004 Niigata and the 1995 Kobe catastrophes are only the most recent examples of Japans vulnerability to seismic risk. Moreover, army personnel likewise took the lead in constructing relief camps which, by October, housed more than 105,000 refugees. The earthquake struck at 11:58:44 am JST (2:58:44 UTC) on Saturday, September 1, 1923. Believing that spiritual reinvigoration of the people was as important as the physical reconstruction of Tokyo, many state agencies launched public morals and suasion campaigns geared towards making Japanese more frugal, earnest, loyal, and obedient. [15], Since 1960, September 1 has been designated by the Japanese government as Disaster Prevention Day (, Bsai no hi), or a day in remembrance of and to prepare for major natural disasters including tsunami and typhoons. The numerous fires and cloudy well water, a little-known effect of a large quake, all seemed to confirm the rumors of the panic-stricken survivors who were living amidst the rubble. Although both were devastated, the city of Yokohama was hit even worse than Tokyo. [13] [13] Extensive firestorms and even a fire whirl added to the death toll. In doing so, this study will not only provide a multifaceted window into interwar Japan, but will also provide historical context to the ideological and manipulative use of disasters and catastropheswhether natural or manmadethat occur in the world today. On the way, the 1923 earthquake strikes, damaging the train and causing a huge fire in the city. [13] Extensive firestorms and even a fire whirl added to the death toll. In one scene in the book, Japan Sinks (by Sakyo Komatsu), due to the fast-moving subduction of the Pacific and Eurasian plates, the Sagami Trough ruptures in a magnitude-8.5 earthquake, killing several million people in Tokyo and other areas, causing major tsunamis, and creating major firestorms. The death toll from the temblor was estimated to have exceeded 140,000. About 700 Chinese, mostly from Wenzhou, were killed. The Maruzen bookstores was the largest bookstore and main provider of Western and European literature in Tokyo. ", "The Occurrence and Mechanisms of Fire Whirls", "Proposed Nomenclature for Fire-induced Vortices", Tornadoes of Fire at Williamsonville, Wisconsin, October 8, 1871, "Whirlwinds At Oil-Tank Fire, San Luis Obispo, Calif", 10.1175/1520-0493(1926)54<161:WAOFSL>2.0.CO;2, "Intense Atmospheric Vortices Associated with a 1000 MW Fire", 10.1175/1520-0477(1980)061<0682:IAVAWA>2.0.CO;2, "California 'fire tornado' had 143mph (230km/h) winds, possibly state's strongest twister ever", "The Giant Fire Whirl From California's Carr Fire Produced Damage Similar to an EF3 Tornado in Redding, an NWS Survey Found", A fire tornado warning? Worse than Tokyo the streets are burning and billowing smoke and flame from an.... Hifukusho-Ato area, during the 1923 earthquake issues of rural areas which may jeopardize the foundation of the earthquake exposed! 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