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This week we're looking at Tokyo, and telling a few tales that connect events in that major world city to people, places, and things in Taiwan.
ポッドキャストをお楽しみください!
Cover image: The Shibuya area of Tokyo, Japan, pictured in 1952 (or in the Japanese way of numbering years the 27th year of the Showa Emperor -- or Showa 27). This image was photographed in the west direction from the current Shibuya Scramble crossing. In the lower left corner, you can see the famous statue of Hachiko the loyal dog surrounded by benches. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Below: On the right is the cover image with the Hachiko statue circled in red, on the left is an image of Shibuya from 2018. Via Wikimedia Commons.
In July 1946, Taiwanese (formerly Japanese-Formosan) black market sellers clashed with Tokyo-based mafia groups in what's known as the Shibuya Incident.
The Great Kantō earthquake (関東大地震, Kantō dai-jishin) struck at 11:58 am, on Saturday, September 1, 1923. After anywhere from a reported four to ten minutes of shaking, Tokyo was left in ruins. The quake is estimated to have killed between 4,000 and 10,000 people. Sadly, soon after the deaths caused by nature came another horror. As Wikipedia puts it, “With the explicit and implicit approval of parts of the Japanese government, the Japanese military, police, and vigilantes murdered an estimated 6,000 people: mainly ethnic Koreans, but also Chinese, Japanese people mistaken to be Korean, and Japanese communists, socialists, and anarchists.” Some of the killings were due to rumors of arson, but the post-quake chaos also provided right-wing nationalists a convenient opportunity to eliminate leaders of leftist or communist movements. There are photos of the killings on Wiki, but we won't show them here.
Below: A scene of desolation of Nihonbashi and Kanda (central Tokyo) seen from the Roof of Dai-ichi Sogo Building, Kyobashi after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Via the Osaka Mainichi newspaper - Earthquake Pictorial Edition.
Listen to the podcast to hear how this quake affected Taiwan.
Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became was famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
