Departments
Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
Kantō daishinsai
関東大震災
Great Kanto Earthquake
The Kanto Earthquake of September 1, 1923 is the worst natural disaster to strike Japan in modern times. The earth began shaking around noon, when lunchtime fires were burning throughout the city--an ideal scenario for a fire. More than 100,000 people died as a result of the earthquake and the conflagrations that followed. Some 50,000 more were injured.
Later estimates put the Kanto Earthquake at a magnitude between 7.9 and 8.4 on the Richter scale. The earthquake destroyed most of Tokyo and the nearby port city of Yokohama.
In the wake of the earthquake, there were rumors that Koreans were looting homes and starting fires. Around 6,000 Koreans were subsequently killed by civilian vigilante groups.
The quake had a major impact on the Japanese economy. The following year, the government announced that 20,000 civil service positions and four divisions of the army would be eliminated.
One of the ironies of the earthquake was that the luxurious Imperial Hotel remained standing. The hotel was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It also survived Allied bombing during World War II—only to be intentionally demolished in 1967 to make way for new construction.