In the aftermath of this devastating earthquake, one of the large buildings left standing in Tokyo was Frank Lloyd Wright's majestic Imperial Hotel, completed in 1923.

Rumours in Wright's home country, the United States, were that his hotel was the only left in the whole city, a rumour that Wright, always the self-promoter, did not dispel. At this time his reputation in America was poor due to his unorthodox personal life and his flamboyant professional one, so the earthquake was something of a blessing for the architect, as he gained a heroic cast in from its survival.