Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire That Helped Forge the Path to World War II

Joshua Hammer has pulled out all the stops with this new and timely book about the 1923 earthquake that struck Yokohama. It is an extensive review of events prior to the quake, with details about Akitsune Imamura, later Chairman of the Seismology Department, Tokyo Imperial University, who correctly predicted the coming horror. I like this book, because it gives the reader a before and after look at all the key players involved, including the embassy and Naval personnel, U.S. professors, and other well-known travelers of that day, whose involvement is important to the story. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright's hotel, which was built to withstand an earthquake, plays a prominent part of the story. Hammer has done significant research that is written in a style which can be understood by academic and layman alike. When detail is needed about how the science of Seismology was developed, it is not so technical, that one cannot understand it. Foreshadowing the Japanese militaristic movement and the massacre of Koreans that followed in the wake of the earthquake by the Japanese, is important to the story. I also liked the link drawn between what happened then, in the diplomatic aftermath, and our current world situation via the current U.S. involvement in humanitarian missions. This is an indispensible resource for the student of pre-Pearl Harbor intelligence: it includes the sidebar stories of spy intrigue that was going on prior to the quake. The author's footnotes are extensive and his sources are well-mined for all the included rich detail. My highest recommendation.

Tying together the declining hopes for democracy in Japan after the hub of foreigners in Yokohama was wiped out by the earthquake amid the eruption of social violence against Koreans by government sanctioned vigilantes, Hammer makes an intriguing historical argument. A lack of follow through on evidence of related change combined with a flawed narrative that focuses entirely too much on the foreigners, especially relatively obscure ones, rather than the Japanese themselves, sinks the book at times. Hammer spends ample time on the amazing relief effort mounted by America (primarily) to respond to the disaster, including the mobilizing of the Asiatic Fleet to sail into Japanese waters with abundant relief supplies and an open hand of friendship to the Japanese people, yet only in passing explains the hostility among many Americans towards Japan from before the quake and certainly after the false media reports claiming Japanese arrogance in the face of the unprecedented relief effort. Nevertheless, its a richly detailed and fascinating read about a disaster that may be a forerunner for the caliber of devastation to be seen in seismic risk sectors like Caracas, Venezuela and Tehran, Iran, to say nothing of dozens of other supercities horizontally spread far and wide with slums packed with millions of teeming masses.

My husband and family used to live in Yokahama and they loved the book.