As an explorer he took part in an expedition to Kamchatka between 1920 and 1922 along with Sten Bergman and Eric Hultén . Malaise eventually left the others and arrived in Kamakura , Japan in August 1923 , just days before the great earthquake on 31 August 1923 which he witnessed from a short distance before his return to Stockholm . He then traveled back to Kamchatka in 1924 along with his fiancée , the journalist , writer and explorer Ester Blenda Nordström and did not return from the Soviet Union until 1930 . On 31 August 1925 Ester Blenda married him on Kamchatka . They would divorce in 1929
great earthquake on 31 August 1923
1923 Great Kantō earthquake
René Malaise