Japan Tsunami Of 1896: Exemplar Article Review To Follow

The article The Recent Earthquake Wave on the Coast of Japan written by Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore was published in the September 1896 edition of the National Geographic Magazine. Eliza Scidmore was a popular travel writer and geographer. She was a popular public figure and later became one of the first female board members in the National Geographic Society. In her professional career she spent much time traveling in the Far East and often wrote the articles and books about this region. Japan-related topics were of special interest to her. In 1890 Eliza Scidmore became a correspondent for the National Geographic Society and later took active part in the development of this organization. A lot of her publications may be found online nowadays.
At the end of the XIX century not many people could afford to go abroad from the USA, but Eliza Scidmore had sufficient resources to travel to Japan and she was very well-educated in order to write the good quality articles that concerned the foreign countries. What is more, the majority of her articles, including the one that will be reviewed in this paper, were not the academic-like publications. Instead they were targeted at the broad audience and for that reason they were written in a simple and comprehensive way. Nevertheless, her articles helped the academics to get familiar with some historical events that took place in the world and in the Far East in particular at the end of the XIX century and beginning of the XX century when all regions of the world were transforming because of the rapid Technical Revolution.
The main topic of Scidmore’s article The Recent Earthquake Wave on the Coast of Japan is a series of the devastating tsunamis and earthquakes that hit Japan in 1896. Tsunamis and earthquakes occur relatively often in Japan in comparison with the vast majority of the countries, because Japan is located along the very dangerous earthquake belt. When the tectonic plates collide they cause tsunamis and earthquakes that lead to the devastating outcomes for the Japanese towns and communities that are located near the coast line. In her article, Eliza Scidmore wanted to show how the local people reacted to the tsunamis and what the consequences of the natural disasters were. At the end of the article she also speculated about the causes of tsunamis.
Because this article was written in the general-audience style rather than in the academic style, there are no clear research questions and objectives. However when analyzing the whole article, one may come to the conclusion that the author wanted to research what was happening in some of the remote communities - Rikuzen, Rikuchu, and Rikuoku - at the northeast of Japan during the tsunamis. By writing this article the author wanted to achieve the following objectives:
In order to write an informative article and answer all research questions, the author had to analyze a lot of statistical materials and conduct a series of interviews with the victims and participants of the rescue missions. At those times there were no organizations that could professionally research tsunamis and earthquakes using sophisticated equipment. Therefore Eliza Scidmore had to write the article based on the stories told by the witnesses and survivors that provided useful information about the height and direction of the tsunami waves, timing of earth-quakes and tsunamis, etc. Moreover, a lot of information and rare images were provided to Eliza Scidmore by the local and foreign journalists, photographers and researchers that immediately started to write numerous reports from the areas that suffered the most.
As the result, the article contains many personal stories that reflect what was happening during and after the tsunamis. Undoubtedly, these stories are emotional, but very meaningful, because they help to understand the peculiarities of the natural environment in which some Japanese people used to live and work. Being close to the ocean is both beneficial and harmful and therefore the people continued to live in the areas exposed to the high risk of earthquakes and tsunamis. Additionally, the personal stories helped to understand the culture of the Japanese people much better. In the article, there are several examples of the everyday activities and customs that are common to the local people. For example, there was a problem with burying the victims, because those who survived wanted to follow all traditions.
At the same time, the author was able to gather and use a lot of statistical data thanks to the Japanese system of census enumeration that provided important details about the victims of the natural disasters. Such information helped to show the devastating outcomes. For example, it showed that in Kamaishi that is located in the north of Japan 4,985 out of 6,529 inhabitants lost their lives, 953 residential houses and 867 warehouses were ruined, and 176 vessels were lost. In total, in 1896 26,975 people were killed and 5,390 people were wounded. 9,313 houses and 10,000 boats were washed away or destroyed. In addition the lands that had been used in agriculture could no longer be used.
So the article is very interesting to read due to the conventional and emotional literature style and effective combination of statistical data and personal evidence that was provided by the witnesses. As the result, the readers can provide insight into Japan’s history and culture and the natural disasters that occasionally batter this country. The facts presented in the article helped the author to answer the research questions in detail. Probably for journalism of that time Scidmore’s article was novel and drew attention of the American geographers and the people that were interested in the foreign countries, but could not afford to travel long distances because of the lack of resources and low mobility caused by the underdeveloped transport.
The conclusions that Eliza Scidmore made concern the Japanese people who are always able to self-organize and help each other after the devastating natural disasters like the one that happened in 1896. Secondly, the author concludes that Japan suffers from tsunamis because of the disturbance in the bed of the sea in the area that is located more than 500 miles away from the San-Riku coast, which is a coastal region on the Pacific Ocean. Due to the unique form of the bays the waves may be significantly amplified and represent a high threat to the communities that are located not far from the coast line.
At the very end of the article, Eliza Scidmore wrote about the possible impact of the Tuscarora Deep on the appearance of tsunamis. The Tuscarora Deep used to be the deepest point in the world. When the water leaks through this deep and meets the hot lava in the interior, huge splashes may take place and cause tsunamis. Eliza Scidmore described the case when an American ship was in the epicenter of the disturbance that took place in the Tuscarora Deep. Even though there was smooth sea, the crew felt as if the vessel had hit the obstruction. At the very end of the article Eliza Scidmore concludes that the Tuscarora Deep as well as the tsunamis and other natural disasters that occasionally hit the Japanese territories should be studied in more detail and the American researchers should be more involved in such studies.