In September 1923, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake devastated eastern Japan, killing more than 120,000 people and leaving two million homeless. Using a rich array of source material, J. Charles
Schencking tells for the first time the graphic tale of Tokyo’s destruction and rebirth. In emotive prose, he documents how the citizens of Tokyo experienced this unprecedented calamity and
explores the ways in which it rattled people’s deep-seated anxieties about modernity. While explaining how and why the disaster compelled people to reflect on Japanese society, he also
examines how reconstruction encouraged the capital’s inhabitants to entertain new types of urbanism as they rebuilt their world.
Some residents hoped that a grandiose metropolis, reflecting new values, would rise from the ashes of disaster-ravaged Tokyo. Many, however, desired a quick return of the city they once
called home. Opportunistic elites advocated innovative state infrastructure to better manage the daily lives of Tokyo residents. Others focused on rejuvenating society—morally, economically,
and spiritually—to combat the perceived degeneration of Japan. Schencking explores the inspiration behind these dreams and the extent to which they were realized. He investigates why Japanese
citizens from all walks of life responded to overtures for renewal with varying degrees of acceptance, ambivalence, and resistance. His research not only sheds light on Japan’s experience
with and interpretation of the earthquake but also challenges widespread assumptions that disasters unite stricken societies, creating a “blank slate” for radical transformation. National
reconstruction in the wake of the Great Kantō Earthquake, Schencking demonstrates, proved to be illusive.
