Post-war Reconstruction and Urban Heritage in Japan. Research Perspectives Japan War damage Post-war Reconstruction Historic Urbanscape Monuments

This paper is an introduction to the present issue of «Storia Urbana», which is focused on the reconstruction in Japan after the Second World War, and is part of the series of this journal dedicated to the post-war reconstruction in Italy (2007) and Germany (2010). Those three volumes allow to compare the situation of the defeated nations after the Second World War in order to verify common characteristics and, more often, to fi nd out the differences in the Allies war strategies, as well as in the emergency situation management and in the planning of the reconstruction itself. The case of Japan is investigated in the periods before and after the war and dealt from the point of view of the legislation, that of the evacuation and, fi nally, from that of the reconstruction, through the analyses of some signifi cant urban settlements and historic sites. Moreover, the infl uence of the Allied Forces on the Japanese Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, just after the confl ict, is also examined.

Keywords: Giappone, Danni bellici, Ricostruzione postbellica, Paesaggio urbano storico, Monumenti

Carlotta Coccoli, Ugo Mizuko, Ricostruzione postbellica e patrimonio urbano in Giappone. Orientamenti di ricerca in "STORIA URBANA " 140-141/2013, pp 5-16, DOI: 10.3280/SU2013-140001