Right-wing Governor Koike of Tokyo Refuses to Issue Memorial Statement for Korean Victims of Kanto Massacre for 5th Year

▲Yuriko Koike, Governor of Tokyo
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Yuriko Koike, Governor of Tokyo, Japan, has refused for the fifth consecutive year to send a condolence message for the victims of the massacre of Koreans that occurred immediately after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.

On the 24th, the Tokyo Shimbun reported that the executive committee preparing the memorial ceremony for the Korean victims massacred after the Great Kanto Earthquake requested Governor Koike’s office to send a condolence message, but received a reply stating that they would not send one.

Governor Koike sent a condolence message for the Korean victims in her first year in office in 2016, but has refused to send one since 2017.

If she does not send a condolence message by the event scheduled for the 1st of next month, it will mark the fifth consecutive year of refusal.

The memorial ceremony for the Korean victims of the Kanto Massacre has been held since 1974, and all previous Tokyo governors, including Shintaro Ishihara, who earned the nickname "original far-right" in Korea, sent condolence messages. Koike has overturned this tradition.

Governor Koike has stated that she mourns all earthquake victims at the Buddhist memorial service held by the Tokyo Metropolitan Memorial Association and has expressed that she will not send condolence messages to individual memorial events held separately.

However, the Kanto Massacre is widely regarded as an incident of killing civilians, not something that can be lumped together as earthquake damage. Although it occurred shortly after the earthquake, it should be seen as an organized crime rather than a natural disaster.

Based on Koike’s past words and actions, it is interpreted that her historical perception of the Kanto Massacre is the practical reason for refusing to send condolence messages.

In 2005, while serving as Minister of the Environment, she showed right-wing tendencies by visiting Yasukuni Shrine, where Class A war criminals of the Pacific War are enshrined.

Before the 2017 House of Representatives election, when she founded the Party of Hope, she caused controversy by requiring prospective members to agree with the policy opposing granting voting rights to foreigners.

Shortly after taking office, she also raised suspicions of adopting policies riding on anti-Korean sentiment by scrapping the project to provide a site for a second Korean school in Tokyo, which had been promoted by former Governor Yoichi Masuzoe.

On the 23rd, the executive committee submitted a protest statement to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government regarding Governor Koike and again demanded the submission of a condolence message.

They pointed out, "Due to ethnic discrimination and other reasons, we hope that the victims of the massacre will not be grouped together with natural disaster victims, and that a stance will be shown to never repeat the same mistake again."

The Kanto Massacre occurred in the chaotic aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake, which struck the Kanto region including Tokyo at 11:58 a.m. on September 1, 1923, with a magnitude of 7.9. Many Korean residents in Japan, Chinese, and Japanese socialists were killed.

False rumors such as "Koreans poisoned wells," "Koreans are committing arson," and "Koreans are inciting riots" spread, heightening hostility toward Koreans, and the massacre was led by Japanese vigilantes, police, and military personnel.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.