Imaging Disaster: Tokyo and the Visual Culture of Japan's Great Earthquake of 1923

摘要

The passage of time, the 11/3 tsunami and Fukushima disaster may have diminished memories of the Kanto earthquake, but its legacy still casts a long shadow over Japan in many ways, not least of which is 'Disaster Prevention Day' held annually on 1 September, the anniversary of the day in 1923 when an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale laid waste to Tokyo and the surrounding metropolitan area, taking the lives of over 100,000. In this impressively comprehensive and richly illustrated study, Gennifer Weisenfeld reconstructs the 'visual lexicon of disaster' that developed in the aftermath of this earthquake, and reveals how it shaped and was shaped by changing perceptions of the event over the course of the period, culminating in the construction of the Earthquake Memorial Hall and Museum in 1930-1931.