Episode 633 – The Catastrophe, Part 1

July 10, 2026

The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 was one of the most devastating catastrophes in modern Japanese history, but in English scholarship it’s often overshadowed by the destruction of the Second World War. This week we’ll kick off a multipart series on the quake and its legacy with a simple question: what do we know about the immediate aftermath?

Sources

Schencking, J. Charles. The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Chimera of National Reconstruction

“Earthquake Days” by Henry W. Kinney, from the Jan 1, 1924 edition of The Atlantic

Images

The Nihonbashi neighborhood in central Tokyo in the aftermath of the quake.
Fire in the Marunouchi neighborhood not far from the imperial palace.
The aftermath of the Honjo Depot fire, with the bodies of victims scattered across the ground.
A map of the burnt out areas in Tokyo showing the effect on the Shitamachi relative to the more prosperous parts of the city.
PM Yamamoto Gonnohyoe holding an outdoor cabinet meeting after the quake for fear of further aftershocks.