The Great Kantō Earthquake: Charles Schencking and the History of Japan's Natural Disasters

It's a macabre irony that the worst natural disaster to hit Japan, resulting in the loss of more than 110,000 human lives, is also seen as providing a perfect example of the human condition. The Kantō earthquake of September 1, 1923 reduced 45 per cent of Tokyo to smouldering rubble. At the time, the earthquake's 7.9 magnitude was one of the largest ever recorded in a country that suffers 20 per cent of the world's tremors of a magnitude of 6.0 or above every year. Most of the deaths and destruction were caused by fire that broke out across the city. But it is what happened in the aftermath that became the focus of Professor Charles Schencking of the Department of History.

An active and widely published researcher of Japanese history, natural disasters and war, Professor Schencking's book The Great Kantō Earthquake offers harrowing accounts of the human tragedy during the earthquake and its immediate aftermath. He examines how the disaster was interpreted by many social commentators as an act of divine punishment to admonish Japanese for leading what many suggested were hedonistic, luxury-minded lifestyles. He also charts how grandiose reconstruction dreams were tempered by political conflict and fiscal penury. His work points to the extraordinary resilience of Tokyo's citizens as they rebuilt their city and the world around them from ruins.

Schencking credits his research into the book with changing his attitude towards teaching and historical enquiry, leading him to concentrate on the human side of this discipline and earning him a Faculty Teaching Excellence Award in 2010. He has also pioneered taking his subject to the wider community with his department's "History in the Making" public lecture series and a companion website to his book.

(Text reproduced from Faculty of Arts 100: A Century in Words and Images.)

Please click on the following link to access the publisher's page: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-great-kanto-earthquake-and-the-chimera-of-national-reconstruction-in-japan/9780231162180