A NEW JAPAN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 13

A NEW JAPAN.

. AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE. WORK OVER TWELVE MONTHS. ORDER ARISING OUT OF DEVASTATION. A year ago on that, awful midday of. the first of .'September, 1923, two flourishing' cities of Japan were reduced to ashes in a few hours. .What took generations to buiid perished in less than a day. Yokohama, the greatest po.'t of Japan, and Tokio, tile in--tellectual, artistic, and commercial centre of the country, collapsed. The toll of life was heavy. More than a hundred thousand lives were lost, and properties valued at several thousand million dollars wei’e destroyed. In Tokio alone 400,030 houses crumbled to the ground or were burned by the vast fires following the quake, and abc,ut 2,000,000 were left without shelter. No time was lost in repairing this dreadful disaster, states Sayel .Zimand, in the New York Times. Machinery immediately put in action not Only io rebuild the destroyed but also to erect on their ashes more modern communities. At that time the Home Minister was Viscount Goto. He is a man of volcanic energy and one of the most liberal statesmen of the country. He put experts at work on new plans, and in six weeks was ready with a new building programme. His plans demanded a budget of 350,000,000 dollars, to be expended in five years. _ Other political leaders felt that Japan could not raise so much, e.nd'the extraordinary session of the Diet held in December, 1923, reduced the budget to ISS.OOOTOOO dollars, and, in case the municipal governments 'were, prepared to undertake a certain proportion of the street building, a further sum of 53,000,000 dollars was provided for Since then the municipalities have indicated their willingness to handle the construction of certain streets. Few permanent structures, however, have as yet been erected in Tokio. The construction of permanent buildings began only a few weeks ago. Yokohama is still in ruins. Rut the harbour is full of incoming and outgoing ships, and an excursion through the streets of both cities will show the visitor the rapid progress made in one year. From the roof of the highest • building of Tokio, where the Reconstruction Bureau has its headquarters, one sees solid masses of the tin roofs of barlacks. Up to the middle of April of this year Tokio had erected 161,699 such buildings. The famous Broadway of Japan, called the Ginza, is flourishing, and business and pleasure go cm as in the days of old. The Asalcusa Park, which is Japan’s Coney Island, with the. temple of the Japanese Goddess of Mercy, is full of those who come to feed the life of The spirit and body. Jab EVEN GODS SUfpIITTED. But . the graphic, symbols of the tragic September day are still to be seen everywhere. .The records of those brief moments are recorded on the streets; parks, buildings and temples. In visiting Hon jo, the east side of Tokio, the representative of the Home Department pointed out ah open space where 33,000 persons of aIL ages were burned by the flames while seeking safety. It was a tortuous death they met in their flight. They poured into this open space thinking themselves jafe, and were entrapped by the flames. Thousands of long wooden signs with inscriptions of the dead, lined up against each other, the altar in the middle of the place and the few silent faces around us, revived the great tragedy. . Near the shrine of the Japanese Goddess of Mercy is the Yoshiwaru quarter, the ‘‘Red Light” district of Tokio. Here 2500 licensed girls perished in flames. And around the Asakusa shrine-.the stone buddhas rolled off their pedestals. Even the gods submitted to the inevitable. My Japanese companion remarked that when Hje disorder of the elements started the buddhas, in true Japanese fashion, resigned themselves by saying to themselves “Shigata-ga-nai” (it . can’t be helped). That, at any: rate, was the nation’s answer to.the* ’quake, and the gods do no less. Only the shrine of the Goddess of Mercy remained intact. Yet the cafes and’the merry geisha girls did not show signs of being any less gay. There is as much laughter and joy in the Latin quarter of Japan as there was before the September disaster. The business men and the population in general, do not bieod over the past. They are looking into the future. Everybody seems to be thinking on how to help wild up the devastated area. The Japanese are anxious to demonstrate that they can do as well as California did after the fc'au Francisco quake. .The hundreds of thousands who fled from Tokio alter the disaster have gradually come lack. The stores are crowded witli people, and there is nothing that one could rot get here. ZONING SY.STEM FOR TOKIO.

The reconstruction work :s in the hands of the Reconstruction Bvreau, with a staff of over 600, and has as its general secretary Mr Kanai. The general secretary of this organisation answers more questions daily than the busy information office of New York Public Library. He is always very courteous, and never fails tc be of help. .He replies to those who want to know about the future size of the streets; and the price the Government proposes to pay 'for condemned land, and where the fireproof zone of Tokio will be located, and gives information about licenses for peramnent buildings and many other questions which deal with the complex apparatus of rebuilding ‘ the destroyed twin cities.

The adopted plan for reconstrucThe adopted plan for reconstruction provides for the planning .and construction of streets, additional public parks and markets. It also provides for the segregation of residential districts from commercial and industrial districts. Separate sections of the city are marked out for the industries, industries of a poisonous nature, and commercial centres. Ail this is being done with a view to minimising the possibility of future conflagrations, Mr Kanai explained how the rambling roads and narrow' and crooked lanes cf 'i okio will give place to broad thoroughvarying from od to 44 metres wide in. the main section of the city. Six such new avenues will supplement the present main thoroughfares. Besides this. 122 other new streets, with a minimum width of eleven meters, are to be a part of the new City of T'okio. Heavy traffic will then be prohibited on file Ginza, and for that purpose will Ureserved the new thoroughfare running parallel to it. It is also planned lo connect Tokio and Yokohama by way of a barge canal, to he completed in 1929. The length of this canal is to bo 17,000 metres,- with a width or 200 metres.

The fireproof buildings are to be subsidised by the Government. It is the intention to reimburse the builder for half the additional cost of erecting such a building. Factories will be absolutely' prohibited in residential districts, and poisonous and dangerous industries will be segregated in certain other districts.

MANV P.Ui.KS PLANMED. Ihe Government pays for condemned land at- the rate of 90 per cent, of its appraised value. Great attention is being given to provide more public parks, and three large ones will be added to those in existence, and a chain of public markets will be constructed and maintained under municipal supervision. . The building of streets in The twin cities is supposed to be completed within five years. The preliminary work has been completed, and the work has been started. But it will take at least a decade before the two cities are completely reconstructed. One circumstance which lieLps a | speeay recovery is that Osaka, the great industrial centre of Jaoan, was not touched by the disaster.* It was estimated that not more than 20 per cent, of the indusrial establishments cf ■Japan was situated in the earthquake zone. But the establishments included factories in which, according to estimates of an American authority, 30 per cent, of the machinery made in Japan was produced. An enormous amount of reconstruction material has been imported From .September 1 to the end of March of this year the reconstruction material .mported was valued at 220,885,000 dollars. This caused a drain on the gold reserve of the country and explains in part the depreciation of the Japanese currency. Even to-day. in spite of the gradual improvement of the money market, the country is a long way from having emerged from its serious financiaj situation. Sangi Muto, a captain- of Japanese industry, says that the only way to offset tn-e great loss of the disaster and to- put- business on a secure foundation lies in rigid economy and in free trade LESSONS FROM DISASTER. •Prosperous colonies,” he said, “have all been divided up long ago. Korea does not bring us in much, and we spend a good deal there. Our labourers are not as efficient as American workingmen. In fact, I know from personal experience that the Japanese workmen are 40 per cent, less efficient than the American. The only things left for us to do a?\ G to practise rigid economy in everything, exterminate graft, and work ham. The earthquake has, perhaps, been useful. \\ r e are all learning from it. Tb« i rich are learning from tlie earthquaKe because we have an old saying m Japan that earthquakes shake'the money out of the rich men’s ✓pockets. Especially will we be more than ever on the look out against the corruption winch had extended far and wide. But the earthquake has helped to make us more diligent-, and the nation is gradual realising that only a. revival of tht spirit of saving and thrift will enahle us to face the hardships which we still nave to face.” '