Editorial: Politicians insincere to turn blind eye to massacre of Koreans after 1923 quake

In the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake 101 years ago, many Koreans in Japan were massacred. Refusing to face this history will result in the tragedy fading away along with the lessons it carries.

Again this year, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike did not send a letter of condolence to a ceremony held by a private organization to pay tribute to the victims. It had been customary for the capital’s past governors to do so, but the last to be sent was in 2016, immediately after she assumed office.

Instead, Koike sent a message to a separate Buddhist memorial service for the victims of the 1923 quake, and explained, “I express my condolences to all the people.” But she avoided direct mention of her view on the massacre of Koreans, saying, “Various research is being carried out.”

The national government has similarly been reluctant to face the facts of history. In the Diet and on other occasions, it has continued to state, “To the extent that we have investigated, we have found no records within the government that would allow us to ascertain the facts.” However, there are documents from the former Ministry of Justice summarizing cases in which perpetrators were prosecuted. There are also records showing the Home Ministry at the time ordered a crackdown on Koreans.

Immediately after the earthquake, false rumors of looting and arson by Koreans spread, leading to them being killed by vigilante groups and other parties. In some cases, military personnel and police officers were involved.

In a report filed in 2009, the government’s Central Disaster Management Council estimated that the victims accounted for one to several percent of all fatalities in the quake disaster. Last year, a private investigation uncovered additional documentation, including a report from a local army organization and a document believed to be a report to the central government from the Kanagawa Prefectural Government.

Not facing the facts risks distorting history. In recent years, discourse denying the massacre has surfaced, and the ambiguous stances adopted by politicians could end up fueling the denials.

It is the role of the government and local bodies to conduct a thorough investigation and uncover the reality of the massacre.

This year, Saitama Gov. Motohiro Ono, and Chiba Gov. Toshihito Kumagai sent condolence messages for the first time to memorial services held in their respective prefectures.

When disasters hit, people are driven by anxiety and fear. The background to the massacre was prejudice against Koreans. This is an issue that resonates even today, with hate speech targeting Korean residents and Kurds in Japan rampant on the internet. With the popularization of social media, there is a heightened risk of false rumors and misinformation spreading online.

We must not repeat the same mistake of human rights violations, and the first step toward that goal should be for society to acknowledge this negative historical fact, and pass the truth of it on to future generations.