Japan Press Weekly

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2023 August 30 - September 5 TOP3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Ceremony held to remember 1923 Kameido Incident

A memorial service, marking the centennial anniversary of the Kameido Incident in which young labor and social activists were killed by the Japanese military and the police in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake, took place on September 3 in Tokyo.

Following the service, attendees offered flowers at a monument in the Akamon-Joshinji Temple in Tokyo's Kameido area.

In the wake of the major temblor on September 1, 1923, the rumor that "socialists are planning an insurrection" was spread. Kawai Yoshitora, the first chairperson of the former Communist Youth League of Japan, was helping quake victims when he was carted off to the Kameido police station and was later killed by the military. Nine workers who happened to be with Kawai at that time were also murdered.

Participating in the memorial service, Japanese Communist Party member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Azegami Miwako offered her prayers to Kawai and the nine young activists.

Hayase Kaoru, a standing member of the Democratic Youth League of Japan (the successor to the Communist Youth League of Japan), was also present at the service. She said, "Taking over the determination of our predecessors and their daily activism, we will continue doing our best to open the way to create a new society that encourages hope."