The Great Tochio Flood of 1926: Limits to Modernization in Flood Amelioration

Abstract

"Most of the papers in this panel deal with responses to calamities after they happen. I take up the degree to which late nineteenth and early twentieth century Japanese governments attempted to prevent or ameliorate floods. While these two themes are related as cause and effect, at first glance they appear to involve distinct sets of problems. I argue further that there are some striking similarities in the structure of decision-making and the allocation of resources to deal with the two sets of problems. In addition to this perspective, I also employ this case study to examine important ramifications of large-scale state planning in the Japanese context to explain why Japans rapid nineteenth and early twentieth century technological and industrial progress did not lead to widespread adoption of these technologies and productive capacities to flood hazard amelioration. I begin with a discussion of the latter perspective."