Showcases of new Tokyo: reconstructed Primary Schools as modern sites of learning and spaces of state

Abstract

In March 1930, the Emperor conducted a tour of Tokyo to mark the completion of the Imperial Capital Reconstruction Project following the catastrophic 1923 earthquake and fires. The Emperor travelled twenty miles throughout the city but along the way he stopped at only seven locations described as the “most deeply significant places related to the reconstruction.” One of them was a school: Chiyoda Primary School. City and national officials praised Tokyo’s reconstructed primary schools as one of the most tangible success stories to emerge from the disaster and reconstruction. The destruction of two-thirds of Tokyo’s primary schools in 1923 was unprecedented and educators seized the opportunity to rebuild modern schools that they believed would better enable them to accomplish their increasingly diverse and complex educational and social objectives. In essence, this paper explores how and why the schools were built the way they were. In doing so, I will examine the social, political, and technological factors that shaped their conceptualization and construction. Moreover, I will argue that a greater emphasis on improving students’ health and hygiene, the desire to cultivate physically strong and morally sound Japanese subjects, and a growing realization that schools could play an important social function apart from formal education influenced the design, location and facilities incorporated into Tokyo’s reconstructed primary schools. Schools thus featured prominently in the 1930 celebrations not only as showcases of educational aims and architecture, but they were also acclaimed as modern sites of learning and important spaces of state in New Tokyo.