Saitama, Tokyo governors skip events marking 101 years since anti-Korean massacres

Memorial services were held in Tokyo and across neighboring Saitama Prefecture on Sept. 1 to mark 101 years since the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and to honor Korean residents who were massacred by vigilante groups driven by false rumors in the disaster’s wake.

However, the solemn ceremonies were tinged with disappointment, as both Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and Saitama Gov. Motohiro Ono rejected requests to participate or to contribute words of condolence.

In Saitama Prefecture, services were held in the municipalities of Honjo, Kamisato and Kumagaya. In the Japanese capital, the annual commemoration was held by the Tokyo Metropolitan Reien Kyokai association at the Tokyo Metropolitan Memorial Hall in Yokoamicho Park in Sumida Ward.

In Honjo, where 88 people were killed at the former Honjo Police Station and other locations, a service was held before a memorial to the victims in Nagamine cemetery. Mayor Shinge Yoshida said at the ceremony, “Since the year of the incident, Honjo has held memorial events and continued this act of remembrance, keeping the victims’ pain close to our hearts. We vow to build a community of mutual trust, learning from this tragic event.”

In Kamisato, where 42 people were beaten to death near Jimbohara Station on what is now the JR Takasaki Line, a memorial service was held at Anseiji, a temple close to the station. Mayor Hirokazu Yamashita departed from his prepared remarks to share a personal reflection: “When I was in junior high school, my mother, who was born at the end of the Meiji era (1868-1912), told me about the incident, saying, ‘I never want this to happen again.’ I fully acknowledge the events that took place in our community.”

In Kumagaya, where 57 people were murdered on the streets along the old Nakasendo road and elsewhere, a ceremony was held at the municipal Memorial Saiun funeral home. Mayor Tetsuya Kobayashi read out a message of condolence, stating, “It is truly tragic and regrettable that innocent Koreans were victimized by people who believed in baseless rumors. We pledge to pass on this history accurately and ensure that such a mistake is never repeated.”

At the three ceremonies, Ha Hoyong, chairman of the north Saitama Prefecture branch of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), expressed his deep sadness, saying, “When I think of our compatriots who were brutally massacred in a foreign land, I still cannot suppress my anger and frustration as a Korean. We must pass on the lessons of this bloodshed to future generations so that it never happens again.”

Choi Nammun, head of the Saitama Prefecture regional headquarters of the Korean Residents Union in Japan (Mindan), voiced concerns about “historical revisionism” surrounding the massacre, saying, “To prevent another tragedy, we cannot ignore ‘incorrect history.’ Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.”

In both 2023 — the earthquake disaster and massacre’s centennial year — and this year, citizens’ groups asked Saitama Gov. Ono to send a memorial message, but he refused on the grounds that it was “not requested by a sponsoring organization (government).” Lee Chang Yong, chair of the prefectural head office of Chongryon, a pro-Pyongyang organization headquartered in Tokyo, said in disillusionment, “It doesn’t matter whether the requesting organization is private or governmental. It’s how they approach the incident. They want to keep a lid on the stink, just like the Tokyo Metropolitan Government does.”

Choi said optimistically, “We appreciate Gov. Ono’s statement last year that he was ‘pained’ by the incident. I hope that at some point this year, too, he will issue a message on the incident as a whole.”

Norio Shimoyama, a 79-year-old weather forecaster who attended the ceremony in Kumagaya, said, “It is unfortunate that there was no message from the governor. It would have been nice to have words of condolence from him on Sept. 1, the day of the event that has been built up over the years by multiple administrative bodies.”

This year marked the first full-scale event in Kumagaya in five years, since prior years’ events were downscaled by the coronavirus pandemic. More than 100 people participated at each event site.

(Japanese original by Hirohiko Kumamoto, Kumagaya Bureau, and Shunsuke Yamashita, Tokyo City News Department; video by Yoshiya Goto, Photo Group)