In the final phase of the Pacific War (1941-45)-the arena of Japanese involvement in World War II (1939-45)-American forces staged a massive incendiary air raid on Tokyo. Like the Great Kanto Earthquake, the WWII bombings of Tokyo in 1945 reduced the city to ashes (94,000 dead and missing, 19,6000ha destroyed). After surrendering in August, Japan was occupied by the Allied Forces under General MacArthur and the political and economic systems were reformed. The city of Tokyo, however, was not reconstructed.

	With the massive issuance of government bonds to offset war expenditures and the postwar shortage of goods, Japan experienced accelerating inflation in the years following the war. The early policy of the seven-year Allied Occupation aimed to restore living standards to the 1935 level and promote economic self-sufficiency. When war broke out on the Korean Peninsula, however, they were forced to review their approach. In 1949, banker Joseph M. Dodge was appointed a special envoy by the President, and during his three-month stay in Japan implemented a series of economic measures known as the Dodge line. The features of the plan included increased taxes, the termination of all subsidies, and the cessation of loan issuance coupled with active debt recovery by the Reconstruction Finance Bank, among other measures to combat inflation. The same year, economist Carl S. Shoup, who had been invited to Japan by the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers (GHP), recommended revisions for Japan's tax system that reinforced the economic stabilization measures implemented under the Dodge line. Shoup's recommendations included government reliance on income taxes for the bulk of its revenues, expanding the revenue base of local governments, and introducing the self-assessment tax payment system. The Dodge line curbed inflation and balanced the consolidated national budget, but forced Tokyo to cut back its postwar recovery plan in the process.

	The national government established "Fundamental Guidelines for Postwar Recovery Planning" as early as December 1945 because the Home Ministry had begun work on a recovery plan before the war had ended. Based on the experience gained from the earthquake recovery plan, with emphasis placed on land readjustment, the actual Postwar Recovery City Plan was developed under the leadership of then Tokyo Bureau of Construction chief Hideaki Ishikawa. Although the Dodge line subsequently forced drastic cutbacks in the plan, the thinking behind it ultimately led to the National Capital Region Development Plan. With the cutbacks, the 20,000 ha designated for block readjustment and the seven 100m, two 80m, and other high-standard radial and loop roads planned in 1946, were reduced, respectively, to less than 5,000 ha. and a network of 25m roads under the 1955 plan. The present plan is even further scaled down, and even at that only 55% of the roads have been constructed. The following shows a detailed comparison of these plans as they affected Minato Ward.

	[Reference Materials] -"Tokyo no toshi keikaku hyakunen (100 years of Tokyo city planning)," Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of City Planning, 1989 -"Tokyo hyakunenshi (One hundred year history of Tokyo) Vol. 6," Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 1979 -"Edo Tokyo gaku jiten (Dictionary of Edo Tokyo Studies)," Sanseido, 1987 -"Imidas 2001," Shueisha, 2001 -"Atlas Tokyo," Heibonsha, 1986 [Map Production References] -"Recovery City Plan Map (1946)," Tokyo Shintoshi Kensetsu Kousha -"Tokyo Special City Plan Map (1955)," Tokyo Shintoshi Kensetsu Kousha -"Minato-ku toshi keikaku shisetsu tou zu (Minato Ward city planning facilities, etc. map)," Minato Ward, 2001 -Geographical Survey Institute 1/50,000 scale old edition map -"Tokyo no toshi keikaku hyakunen (100 years of Tokyo city planning)," Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of City Planning, 1989 -"Atlas Tokyo," Heibonsha, 1986

	Top Page		Archives		About "Mid-Tokyo Maps"		Viewers' voices		Inquiries
Copyright (c) 2001 Mori Building Co., Ltd.