No. 1320 A Hundred Years after Great Kanto Earthquakes
It will commemorate the hundredth year of the Great Kanto Earthquakes, which took place in 1923, on September 1. Following the geological calamity, the economic boom brought by the World War I and the Democratic Process during the decades of 1910s and 1920s plummeted into the recession and the political readiness in the society to stage a war against Asian neighbors. Never repeat such a tragic history. That is a mission of ours who live in the contemporary era.
NEVER REPEAT TRAGIC HISTORY!
Remains uneasiness in counter-measures to natural disasters
In spite of frequent warnings on the epicentral earthquakes that may hit the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, the capital city carries out city plannings based on money-making, absorbing people from other regions. Tokyo bristles with skyscrapers. In the wake of the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquakes residents in the capital city could not, temporarily though, use elevators, and toilets, too, due to disrupted water supply.
The 1923 Kanto Earthquakes were triggered from the M7.9-degree temblor which occurred in the Sagami-wan Bay, off the coast of Kanagawa Prefecture. As far as the number of the dead and the missing is concerned, however, Tokyo recorded an overwhelmingly bigger figure, comparing those of Kanagawa and Chiba Prefectures, which are nearer to the epicenter. It was because almost 90% of the dead in Tokyo was due to fires.
In the end of the WWII, the US military repeatedly air-attacked cities across the country, which were vulnerable to blazes, using incendiary ammunitions. In the Tokyo Air Raid of March 10, 1945, over a million people were affected, with the dead counting over 95 thousand people. It was a crime of war, a genocide.
But the lessons of the catastrophes have not been learnt; though the archipelago have ushered in the active seismic phase, a transferring plan of functions of capital city has been shelved and skyscrapers have been built one after another, while many wooden houses closely stand in the districts where ground strength is weak. Dangers of collapses and destructions in a fire have not been reduced.
Furthermore, as many earthquakes occur in Japan, nuclear power plants have been constructed across the country and the aging stations, which were suspended of service, have resumed operation lately through the authority’s compulsory orders. A proverb says ‘come on floods, after I leave here’ – this is the government’s stance. It has no sense of responsibility.
A path to war and poverty
In addition, we clearly see a path leading to a war in these days. The ruling bloc of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito has held elections in favor of themselves, keeping an overwhelming majority in the Diet: the coalition distorts the constitutional principles to perish them, controlling the legislature by a power of the number of seats.
The military alliance of Japan and the United States has been consolidated through the bilateral Security Treaty in order to jointly commit in warfare. The government and mass media are engaged in daily propaganda coordinately. Thus, the neighbors of Japan, with whom we should be friendly, are framed up to be imaginary enemies, with hostility being stirred up.
The Japanese government has decided on doubling military expenditure to assume the interests of the United States; its financial sources come from increased taxes and reduced budgets to sustain people’s livelihoods and public services. In other words, all burdens are to be put on ordinary people.
For the past 30 years, workers have not enjoyed reasonable wages and medium-and-small-sized companies have been plunged to a deadlock. The population has been decreasing in the countryside, where senior citizens are left behind. Towns are desolate, driven to collapse.
Let’s avert political disaster!
Sovereignty in politics, however, lies in every one of people. For what is brought by politics, we can change it by politics. Let’s have firm political confidence.
続く防災への不安
首都直下地震の警告がありながら、東京は人口集中と金儲けのために都市計画を歪め、高層ビルが林立している。東日本大震災で一時的とはいえ、エレベーターが使えず、断水でトイレも使えない状態に置かれた。
関東大震災は相模湾で起きたマグニチュード７・９の地震によって引き起こされた。しかし、震源地に近い神奈川や千葉・房総に比べ、東京が圧倒的に死者・行方不明者が多かったのは、約９割が火災による焼死であったためだ。
太平洋戦争末期、米軍は火災に弱い日本の都市をめがけて焼夷弾による空襲を繰り返し、１９４５年３月10日の東京大空襲で罹災者は１００万人を超え、死者９万５千人という、戦争犯罪・大虐殺を引き起こした。
しかし、その教訓は生かされず、再び「地震活動期」に入っているにもかかわらず、首都機能移転は棚上げ、高層ビルが林立し、他方で地盤の弱い地域に木造住宅が密集している。建物の倒壊や火災の危険性は、低減していないのだ。
その上、地震大国日本には原発が林立し、老朽原発の再稼働が政府によって強行されている。まさに「我が亡き後に洪水よ来たれ」という無責任さだ。
戦争への道と貧困
そして、目に見えて戦争への道筋がつくられている。自らに有利な中で行われる選挙によって、自公政権は国会内で圧倒的多数を維持し続け、数の力で憲法を歪め、さらに平和憲法をなきものにしようとしている。
安保条約は日米が共同して戦争を行う軍事同盟が強化され、政府とマスコミ一体の日常的な宣伝で、友好国であるべき近隣諸国が仮想敵とされ、敵がい心が醸成されている。
米国の肩代わりを担わされて軍事費は２倍化へ。財源は増税など、生活や社会保障予算の削減、すべて庶民の負担増によろうとしている。
30年も賃金が上がらず、中小企業は大企業に生かさず殺さずの状態に置かれている。地方は、高齢化と人口減少で崩壊状態に追い込まれようとしている。
政治災害を防ごう
しかし、政治の主権者は国民一人ひとりである。政治によって作られたものは政治で変えることができる。その思いを強く持とう。
英訳版↓
No. 1320 A Hundred Years after Great Kanto Earthquakes
It will commemorate the hundredth year of the Great Kanto Earthquakes, which took place in 1923, on September 1. Following the geological calamity, the economic boom brought by the World War I and the Democratic Process during the decades of 1910s and 1920s plummeted into the recession and the political readiness in the society to stage a war against Asian neighbors. Never repeat such a tragic history. That is a mission of ours who live in the contemporary era.
NEVER REPEAT TRAGIC HISTORY!
Remains uneasiness in counter-measures to natural disasters
In spite of frequent warnings on the epicentral earthquakes that may hit the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, the capital city carries out city plannings based on money-making, absorbing people from other regions. Tokyo bristles with skyscrapers. In the wake of the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquakes residents in the capital city could not, temporarily though, use elevators, and toilets, too, due to disrupted water supply.
The 1923 Kanto Earthquakes were triggered from the M7.9-degree temblor which occurred in the Sagami-wan Bay, off the coast of Kanagawa Prefecture. As far as the number of the dead and the missing is concerned, however, Tokyo recorded an overwhelmingly bigger figure, comparing those of Kanagawa and Chiba Prefectures, which are nearer to the epicenter. It was because almost 90% of the dead in Tokyo was due to fires.
In the end of the WWII, the US military repeatedly air-attacked cities across the country, which were vulnerable to blazes, using incendiary ammunitions. In the Tokyo Air Raid of March 10, 1945, over a million people were affected, with the dead counting over 95 thousand people. It was a crime of war, a genocide.
But the lessons of the catastrophes have not been learnt; though the archipelago have ushered in the active seismic phase, a transferring plan of functions of capital city has been shelved and skyscrapers have been built one after another, while many wooden houses closely stand in the districts where ground strength is weak. Dangers of collapses and destructions in a fire have not been reduced.
Furthermore, as many earthquakes occur in Japan, nuclear power plants have been constructed across the country and the aging stations, which were suspended of service, have resumed operation lately through the authority’s compulsory orders. A proverb says ‘come on floods, after I leave here’ – this is the government’s stance. It has no sense of responsibility.
A path to war and poverty
In addition, we clearly see a path leading to a war in these days. The ruling bloc of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito has held elections in favor of themselves, keeping an overwhelming majority in the Diet: the coalition distorts the constitutional principles to perish them, controlling the legislature by a power of the number of seats.
The military alliance of Japan and the United States has been consolidated through the bilateral Security Treaty in order to jointly commit in warfare. The government and mass media are engaged in daily propaganda coordinately. Thus, the neighbors of Japan, with whom we should be friendly, are framed up to be imaginary enemies, with hostility being stirred up.
The Japanese government has decided on doubling military expenditure to assume the interests of the United States; its financial sources come from increased taxes and reduced budgets to sustain people’s livelihoods and public services. In other words, all burdens are to be put on ordinary people.
For the past 30 years, workers have not enjoyed reasonable wages and medium-and-small-sized companies have been plunged to a deadlock. The population has been decreasing in the countryside, where senior citizens are left behind. Towns are desolate, driven to collapse.
Let’s avert political disaster!
Sovereignty in politics, however, lies in every one of people. For what is brought by politics, we can change it by politics. Let’s have firm political confidence.
August 23, 2023