Sept. 1 marks the 101st anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake, and for the eighth year in a row, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike will not send a message of condolence to a group that holds a memorial ceremony for the Korean residents of Japan who were murdered by Japanese soldiers and vigilante groups in the wake of the disaster. All Tokyo governors in the past, including that famous xenophobe Shintaro Ishihara, have sent a message to the group on Sept. 1, and Koike sent one the first year she was governor, but not since. Officially, the massacre is considered a historical fact, though, as with most matters related to Japan’s mistreatment of non-Japanese people at home and abroad, the numbers tend to vary. Korean groups who have researched the killings—Japanese authorities have never carried out a thorough study and rely on incidental data, such as reports in vernacular newspapers—estimate that 6,000 resident Koreans were killed. The official Japanese estimate is about 250. 

The announcement that Koike would not send a message was delivered Aug. 16 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. When Tokyo Shimbun contacted the relevant office for a further comment, it was told that Koike plans to attend a ceremony and memorial service for “all victims” of the disaster, thus implying that she does not distinguish between Koreans killed deliberately by people who thought they were poisoning wells and starting fires, as rumor had it at the time, and members of the general public who perished as a result of the destruction wrought by the massive quake. The head of the committee that carries out the memorial to Korean victims at Yokoamicho Park in Sumida Ward, Tokyo, told Tokyo Shimbun that Koike obviously thinks that “sending an additional message of condolence for Korean victims is just too much trouble.” In essence, Koike means to ignore these Korean victims. (note: Some Japanese media have said that the memorial committee is part of Chongryon, the representative association for North Korean citizens living in Japan, but Chongryon is only one of several groups that have supported the ceremony in the past.)

As we’ve already written, the main reason for Koike’s neglect is pressure from an anti-Korean organization that denies the massacre ever happened. This group, called Japanese Women’s Association Soyokaze, send people to Yokoamicho Park every Sept. 1 to carry out its own memorial ceremony, but all they do is heckle the Korean ceremony in a bid to disrupt it, yelling phrases such as “Koreans go home.” This group has been responsible for various incidents of public hate speech directed at Korean residents of Japan, as well as general anti-Korean political activism, including the recent removal of a memorial to forced Korean laborers that had been installed in a park in Gunma Prefecture. The Tokyo government’s human rights division has condemned the group’s speech without condemning the group itself. Soyokaze has said they received permission from a local neighborhood association to hold their ceremony in Yokoamicho Park, though this association has told media that they have nothing to do with Soyokaze and granted no such permission. 

On Aug. 5, Asahi Shimbun reported on a petition sent to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and signed by 83 Univ. of Tokyo faculty and staff urging Koike to send a letter of condolence to the Korean group holding the Sept. 1 ceremony. According to one of the signatories, Prof. Masahiro Tonomura, who has written a book about Korean forced labor, Koike’s vague response to these entreaties can be construed as denial of the accepted massacre record. Thus, Tonomura asserts, Koike—who makes a big deal of her academic background—undermines trust in scholarly research, which has concluded that the massacre actually happened. In addition, it is incumbent on the governor to acknowledge the massacre due to ongoing bigotry and discrimination against Koreans and other minority groups in Tokyo. Ignoring such issues means she is not upholding her duty as Tokyo governor to foster a “diverse society.”

Asahi asked Soyokaze for a comment and received no reply. However, the group’s home page said it was planning to show up again at Yokoamicho Park on Sept. 1.