Study of Capital Reconstruction Program

Charles A. Beard's Visits to Japan 1922-23 And Its Meaning to Comparative Urban Planning

Abstract

This is part of a historical study of Capital Reconstruction Program, 1923-28, which was carried out after the Great Kanto Earthquake. This article tries to analyze and evaluate the role played in the planning process by Charles A. Beard, a noted American historian, political scientist and municipal reformer, who visited Japan before and after the earthquake. The author concludes Beard’s first visit was a success but the second a failure because his approach was heavily biased by the modern American urban planning, which had little relevancy to the Japanese political situation at that time.