RISE FROM ASHES

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 102, 2 May 1930, Page 9

RISE FROM ASHES

MAGIC RECOVERY OF TOKIO

The Emperor of Japan recently made a formal tour through what may be regarded as his new capital, so coin; pletely changed is it, in its main aspects, from, the irregular, insanitary,' ill-pa ved, and ill-lighted city of preeartkquhke days, writes the Tolrio correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph." In one respect the calamity of 1923 was a blessing in disguise. It made possible improvements which would have taken many years to effect in the normal way. lire laid waste the central and ■ moat valuable areas of the city, .almost half of the total, but incomparably the greater'half. The Imperial Government and city authorities acted with magic promptitude. The city was still enveloped in a pall of black bmokc, at night time the sky a vivid red, when the greatest decisions in Japan's history were taken.. There was a strong opinion, soon overruled, in favour of restoring Kioto's ancient prestige as the Imperial capital in an area comparatively free of earthquake, for it is notorious that Tokio is in the very centre of the volcanic zone and is never frco from tremors. • Within a few days the Restoration Commission' was appointed with 'great powers. Soldiers were put to work bombing the foundations' of ruined buildings, erecting miles of shacks in parks and all open spaces, and preparing" the ground for the new city., s The plan of reconstruction comprised the widening and straightening of the main streets, the completion of the sewerage system, the "zoning" of the city, the setting apart of districts for mauufactur-3,' commerce, and residence, and the insistence on fireproof buildings. . :■■■'■ , REFORMS MADE POSSIBLE. Eeforms it would have, been futile to attempt in ordinary circumstances were easily possible in an area of many square miles, with little standing but stark masonry, walls, and thousands of iron safes, indicating where prosperous business houses had stood a few days earlier. Compared with the Great iFire of London, the area destroyed was twenty times larger; compared with thaj; of Chicago it was four times larger; and compared with that of San Francisco it was three times larger. So far as loss of property wa^ concerned it was thirtyseven times bigger than London, twelve bigger than Chicago, and live times bigger than San Francisco. No-fewer than 1,484,000 people were rendered homeless—that is, 59 per cent, of the. population—for the . dwellings destroyed numbered 366,000, and the other buildings 219,000. The total property loss was competently estimated at 3,700,000,000 yen. The earthquake and fire continued with varying violence for days.. ■ . ■ . At the first shock all means of communication, were cut "off; the trams stopped and were ' burned in their tracks; the streets heaved like the sea, as if some great dragon were underneath; the people ran about in panic, falling on their knees and rising, again to.fall; buildings that stood were like knock-kneed or bow-legged men, theh' fronts bulging out or bent in, a truly remarkable spectacle; the stagnant air of a hot summer's day was filled with dust and smoke; and trekking outwards were hundreds of thousands of hapless people, carrying what'they could secure, destined to live for days and weeks in the outer parks ana on the roadsides. HUOE EXPENDITURE. The celebration of reconstruction will be a great national and municipal event. The sum expended in. seven years.of unremitting labour exceeds 1,000,000,000 yen for foundation wprk alone (street widening- and paving). Part of this sum was a Government grant faffing upon the taxpayers* but the city has to face fi heavy bill' which is an obligation of the citizens of tomorrow, for to-day the Municipality of Tokio is unable to meet its .obligations to the Imperial Government for money borrowed. Early plans had put. 3,500,----000,000 yen (about £350,000,000) as the cost of the reconstruction, but; it was soon'realised that this lavish outlay was out of the question. Tokio's most striking change is in the new alignment of strcefs, or, rather, the planning of streets, for they were never planned briginallyi . The 'city from itf foundation a little over, four hundred years ago grew anyhow in. a haphazard way, in this being characteristically Japanese. How it struck the foreigner appears in the entertaining biography \,i Sir Edmund Hornby, who paid a secand visit to the city in the early 'seventios, when it was still called Yedo, and who described it as the "most perplexing plaeo to find one's way about in of any town I was ever in," ' ■ Such was the Tokio tho Westerner delighted in, with its turns and twists and pleasant surprises, its .evening lanterns, and rushing kurnmaya yelling to people to get. out of the. way, the visitor from afar sitting behind waving a fan and ogling tho maidens passing by on their nwsical wooden clogs. TVday there are no surprises in Tokio. One may as well be in London or anywhere else where bricks and mortar rule.