The Great Kanto Earthquake on Sept. 1, 1923, devastated the capital and its vicinity, destroying 63 percent of homes in Tokyo and 72 percent in Yokohama. From the ashes of the fires that raged in the wake of the massive temblor, though, there arose a public-housing policy whose enlightenment was in many ways far more advanced than the policies that would be pursued two decades later, after World War II.
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| A unit from the demolished Dojunkai Daikanyama Apartments (Satoko Kawasaki Photo) |
Outstanding among those progressive initiatives was Dojunkai, a body incorporated in 1924 under the jurisdiction of the Home Affairs Ministry to supply public housing in Tokyo and Yokohama using donated funds from both Japan and abroad.