Japan Press Weekly

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2024 August 28 - September 3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

JCP urges Tokyo governor to send condolences to annual memorial service for Korean victims of 1923 massacre

The Japanese Communist Party Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblymembers’ group, together with two Tokyo-based local political parties, on August 29 submitted to Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko a written request calling on her to send a message of condolence to the annual memorial ceremony held for Koreans who were massacred by vigilantes in the chaos following the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.

The ceremony is hosted annually by the organizing committee consisting of Korean residents’ groups and Japanese civil groups on September 1 in front of the massacre monument located in a metropolitan park.

Governor Koike in 2017, a year after she assumed office, broke her predecessors’ tradition and decided not to send an annual message to the ceremony. As the reason for this decision, she explained that she mourns “all” victims of the 1923 massive quake at the Tokyo-to Irei Kyokai’s (Tokyo Memorial Association) Buddhist memorial service on September 1.

The metropolitan assemblypersons in their document criticized the governor’s explanation, and stressed that a massacre is totally different from a natural disaster. The document pointed out that the governor’s stance toward the 1923 Korean massacre is an affront to the victims’ dignity and encourages historical revisionists and ethno-nationalists, which is absolutely unacceptable.

The assemblypersons’ document pointed out that since the governor decided to refuse to send a eulogy, a hate-speech rally has been taking place simultaneously near the organizing committee-hosted memorial ceremony. The document stated, “Governor Koike should be held responsible for causing this situation. The Tokyo government should take a stance not to tolerate any acts of showing disrespect for and expressing hate toward other people based on their ethnicity or race.”

On the following day, Governor Koike announced her decision not to send a message to the ceremony. This is the eighth consecutive year that she has made the same announcement.

In the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake on September 1, 1923, thousands of innocent Koreans and Chinese were slaughtered by the military, the police, and neighborhood watch groups amid widespread false rumors such as that Koreans poured poison into wells.

Past related article:
> Tokyo Governor decides not to send annual condolences to Korean victims of 1923 quake [August 25, 2017]