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The Blue Shadow Creeping from the Water's Depths: Tokyo and Yokohama, 1858–1900 The history of cholera and sanitation reveals that the garbage problem was not merely a nuisance of unsightly landscapes and foul odors, but a central issue in public health policy. Cholera is an infectious disease spread through contaminated water and food, rapidly proliferating in environments lacking safe drinking water and proper waste disposal. When a town's water systems were fragile and waste disposal inadequate, disease easily infiltrated living spaces. Sanitary waste management was itself a vital measure against infectious diseases. In Japan, cholera epidemics recurred, beginning with the great Ansei epidemic of 1858 and continuing throughout the Meiji period. In port cities like Yokohama and Tokyo, quarantine and disinfection systems were developed, and efforts were made to reform water supply systems and strengthen sanitation administration. As drinking water quality improved and sewa
ge systems developed, large-scale epidemics gradually subsided, and urban sanitation became institutionalized. The Waste Disposal Act, enacted in 1900 (Meiji 33), was established against the backdrop of infectious disease outbreaks and positioned sanitation services as a municipal responsibility. The policy of promoting incineration became clear, and waste and sewage management were integrated into public policy. The fear of infectious diseases became the impetus to establish urban cleanliness not as a moral imperative, but as an institutionalized system.

Garbage flowing into waterways, decaying, and breeding pests—this chain of events exposed a fundamental weakness inherent in the urban structure itself. The history of cholera quietly continues to tell us that hygienic waste disposal is not merely a matter of urban aesthetics, but a vital urban infrastructure for protecting lives.