This paper examines the policy of municipal social settlement facilities in fishing villages in the prewar period.
During the prewar period, both public and private sector actors worked to establish natural disaster memorial halls. For example, Kyoto City established six typhoon memorial settlements (Fugaikinen-Rinpokan) in 1935 and 1936.
After a tsunami (Showa Sanriku Tsunami) struck the Sanriku coast on March 3, 1933, Miyagi Prefecture established tsunami memorial halls (Shinshou-Kinenkan) from 1934 to 1938 in 33 fishing villages. These buildings were built with funds that came from donations. Tsunami memorial rooms were placed in the tsunami memorial halls. The facilities were built with the purpose of providing support for post-tsunami reconstruction and to provide disaster prevention education.
For all practical purposes, these tsunami memorial halls served as municipal social settlement facilities in the small fishing villages in which they were constructed. Most of the halls had educational and nursery functions, and staff were assigned to the halls.
10 of these tsunami memorial halls served as the foundation for the Kominkan that were established in early postwar Japan. For example, the Ogatsu Town Office converted the Ogatsu Shinshou-Kinenkan into a Kominkan.
All but one tsunami memorial hall, the Shuku Kaishou-Kinenkan, were destroyed by the tsunami that accompanied the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
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