March 21, 2020

A local branch of the Japan Lawyers Association for Freedom (JLAF) on March 19 announced that discriminatory letters had been sent to some restaurants in Yokohama's Chinatown, and strongly protested against the hate speech and actions.

The letters used discriminatory expressions such as, "Chinese are rubbish, bacteria, and annoying! Get out of Japan now!"

The group of lawyers criticized the acts as prejudice and branding Chinese as the cause of the COVID-19 outbreak. They said, "It is extremely hateful to call for expelling foreigners who reside in Yokohama's Chinatown from Japan."

Looking back on the history of the mass murder of Koreans and Chinese during the chaos following the 1923 major earthquake, the lawyers’ group said that they could not overlook the latest event in Yokohama and expressed their determination to work together with as many people as possible to work for a society without discrimination.

Past related articles:
> Rally held to not forget lessons learned from 1923 massacre of Koreans in Tokyo [September 17, 2019]
> 1923 massacre of Koreans was due to groundless rumors spread by gov’t [September 2, 2017]