Japan Press Weekly

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2013 September 4 - 10 [HISTORY]

Hidden history behind 1923 quake: communists killed by power

Akahata ‘Current’ column

September 1 marks the 90th year since the Great Kanto Earthquake hit the central part of mainland Japan in 1923. The massive disaster has given this country an opportunity to review its anti-disaster preparations and methods used to cope with natural disasters. On the occasion of this anniversary, few media touch on the hidden tragedy behind the history - crimes committed by those in positions of power against citizens during the post-quake chaos.

From the night of September 4 to the early morning of September 5 in 1923, the lives of 10 people were taken at the Kameido police station in Tokyo under martial law. They were stabbed to death by the military. Ranging from teenagers to those in their 30s, all of them were young workers and members of the Japanese Communist Party.

What did they actually do before taken to the police? Kitajima Kichizo, a 19-year-old factory worker, asked his factory manager to give food to disaster victims and conducted a relief activity throughout the night. Hirasawa Keishichi helped a Korean family who were captured by vigilantes. Kawai Yoshitora was taking care of three little children whom he rescued from under a collapsed house.

A woman who was given food by Kitajima later said, “If Mr. Kitajima has to be killed, all good people in the world would also have to be killed.” Kawai’s mother Tama went to the Kameido police station and asked, “What kind of crimes has my son committed to be killed?”

At that time, a labor union they belonged to in Koto and Sumida wards of Tokyo was actively conducting progressive activities. The imperial government was watching and waiting for a chance to destroy the union’s leadership.

The barbaric people in positions of power slaughtered those who risked their lives to save others under the emergency situation as well as innocent Korean and Chinese people. They would then go ahead with the war of aggression, which inflicted tremendous sufferings to citizens in other Asian countries. The need to remember and pass on to future generations the barbarous acts by those with power during that major natural disaster is the very lesson we should learn from this history.