744 Japanese Letters on U.S. Aid After 1923 Quake Found;President Calvin Coolidge Quickly Organized Relief

By Shoki Kusaka / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

2:00 JST, March 8, 2025

Over 700 letters from Japanese students expressing appreciation for U.S. assistance for the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake are found to have been kept in the United States. A team of researchers from Tohoku University and other institutions is looking for descendants of those students to learn why and how the letters were sent to the United States.

Millions of dollars donated

According to the team, then U.S. President Calvin Coolidge decided to provide assistance for Japan on Sept. 1, 1923, immediately after he learned about the occurrence of the massive earthquake. He sent a telegram to Emperor Taisho to express his empathy for people in Japan and ordered the U.S. Navy’s Asiatic Fleet and a U.S. Army unit stationed in the Philippines to transport relief supplies to Japan. Coolidge also issued a statement calling for people across the country to make donations for Japan’s earthquake victims.

As a result, ships loaded with relief supplies started to arrive at the Port of Yokohama four days after the earthquake hit the Kanto region and relief supplies such as about 6,000 beds and 750 tons of food were delivered to Japan. The total amount of relief donations reached $10.6 million, amounting to more than ¥10 billion today. Atsushi Kawauchi, an associate professor at Tohoku University and a member of the investigation team, said, “It was humanitarian assistance on an unprecedented scale led by the U.S. president.”

Letters from students nationwide

While there is a record that says Japanese students sent letters of gratitude for U.S. assistance, the whereabouts of the letters were unknown. In 2023, the team confirmed that a descendant of Coolidge who lives in the U.S. state of Vermont possessed three books of bound letters. They took pictures of them and analyzed them.

There were a total of 744 letters from Japanese students. An organization called the “Japan Students Association” called for students to write letters of gratitude. Not only did students at universities and kyusei chugakko secondary schools in disaster-hit areas write letters but many students in other parts of Japan from the Tohoku to Kyushu regions also participated in the initiative. One letter says in English that the writer wished for the friendship between the two countries to last forever and become the foundation for building world peace.

Disaster diplomacy

In those days, an anti-Japanese immigrant movement was gaining momentum in the United States. “With the bilateral relationship deteriorating, the U.S. assistance for Japan might have been a part of disaster diplomacy, using assistance to help improve the relationship,” Kawauchi said.

On the other hand, Kawauchi believes that the Japanese government was also involved in the sending of letters from Japanese students. “I guess the government aimed to deepen friendship between the citizens of both countries through the letters,” he said.

Ken Yoshino, secretary general of the World Bosai Forum and a member of the investigation team, said, “We would like to use the interactions 100 years ago to promote international disaster prevention and world peace in the future.”

The team will present the details of their findings at the World Bosai Forum 2025, which is being held until Sunday in Sendai. Those who can provide information about the letters are asked to email the forum at info@worldbosaiforum.com