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The Great Kantō Earthquake and the Chimera of National Reconstruction in Japan / J. Charles Schencking.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Contemporary Asia in the WorldPublisher: New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2013]Copyright date: ©2013Description: 1 online resource (400 p.) : ‹B›B&W Illus.: ‹/B›61Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780231162180
  • 9780231535069
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 952.032 23
LOC classification:
  • DS888 .S45 2013
  • DS888 .S45 2015
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. CATACLYSM: THE EARTHQUAKE DISASTER AS A LIVED AND REPORTED EXPERIENCE -- 2. AFTERMATH: THE ORDEAL OF RESTORATION AND RECOVERY -- 3. COMMUNICATION: CONSTRUCTING THE EARTHQUAKE AS A NATIONAL TRAGEDY -- 4. ADMONISHMENT: INTERPRETING CATASTROPHE AS DIVINE PUNISHMENT -- 5. OPTIMISM: DREAMS FOR A NEW METROPOLIS AMID A LANDSCAPE OF RUIN -- 6. CONTESTATION: THE FRACTIOUS POLITICS OF RECONSTRUCTION PLANNING -- 7. REGENERATION: FORGING A NEW JAPAN THROUGH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL AND FISCAL RETRENCHMENT -- 8. READJUSTMENT: REBUILDING TOKYO FROM THE ASHES -- 9. CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX
Summary: 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 challenges widespread assumptions that disasters unite stricken societies, creating a "blank slate" for radical transformation. National reconstruction in the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake, Schencking demonstrates, proved to be illusive.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780231535069

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ILLUSTRATIONS -- PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. CATACLYSM: THE EARTHQUAKE DISASTER AS A LIVED AND REPORTED EXPERIENCE -- 2. AFTERMATH: THE ORDEAL OF RESTORATION AND RECOVERY -- 3. COMMUNICATION: CONSTRUCTING THE EARTHQUAKE AS A NATIONAL TRAGEDY -- 4. ADMONISHMENT: INTERPRETING CATASTROPHE AS DIVINE PUNISHMENT -- 5. OPTIMISM: DREAMS FOR A NEW METROPOLIS AMID A LANDSCAPE OF RUIN -- 6. CONTESTATION: THE FRACTIOUS POLITICS OF RECONSTRUCTION PLANNING -- 7. REGENERATION: FORGING A NEW JAPAN THROUGH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL AND FISCAL RETRENCHMENT -- 8. READJUSTMENT: REBUILDING TOKYO FROM THE ASHES -- 9. CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

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 challenges widespread assumptions that disasters unite stricken societies, creating a "blank slate" for radical transformation. National reconstruction in the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake, Schencking demonstrates, proved to be illusive.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mrz 2022)