Die sangokujin die!
The massacre of Koreans in Japan after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 is one one the more bizzare aspects of Japanese history. You would think that the last thing to do during the rescue and rebuilding is the chase after their Korean neighbors. Weird. The “why” of the massacre is never explained by historians, leaving the odd feeling that the motivation for the killings is something wacko like to appease the gods (Japanese aren’t that religious to care). Generally, people pull together during disasters, excluding looters.
Diary shows rare account of Koreans in 1923 Tokyo quake
TOKYO—-….Japanese mobs accused Koreans of poisoning wells and setting fires following the 8.3-magnitude quake on Sept. 1, 1923….historians estimate that 6,000-10,000 Koreans died, many in the ensuing violence.
Little has been written about the attacks, but a diary by Utao Watanabe, an assemblyman in Tsurumi, near Tokyo, said rumors were spreading about “a gang of Koreans looting across the town and killing Japanese who resisted”….Watanabe concluded that the rumors were baseless and demanded that the local police chief expel Koreans from the town for their safety.
Sangokujin is a discriminatory Japanese word for Koreans, Taiwanese and Chinese—It’s use is banned on NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster but it’s a favorite term of Tokyo’s popular governor Ishihara.
Check out the photos of damage to the city of Tokyo taken just after the Great Kanto Quake, HERE.
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