Koike skips tribute to Koreans murdered after 1923 quake

Once again, a Japanese policy who wants to commemorate incidents in which Japan was victim, but wants to forget when Japan was the aggressor. Remember those who died in an accident, or in bombings, is not at all the same or should include the victims of mass-murder.

I've lost any respect I had for this woman, and agree with those who have pointed out that she is just another member of the Nippon Kaigi.

In the chaotic aftermath of the quake, Koreans and Chinese were killed by military and paramilitary forces apparently acting on a rumor that they would stage an uprising. Many groundless rumors swirled at the time including one alleging Koreans were poisoning wells.

Rumours still cost lives.

Despicable then and despicable now.

smithinjapanToday 04:05 pm JSTOnce again, a Japanese policy who wants to commemorate incidents in which Japan was victim, but wants to forget when Japan was the aggressor. Remember those who died in an accident, or in bombings, is not at all the same or should include the victims of mass-murder.

this was an earthquake, dude. chill.

Koike's move came after a Tokyo metropolitan assembly member urged during an assembly meeting in March that she think twice about sending a message to the ceremony since there are different views on the number of Korean residents murdered.

Different views? Racist Views? Nippon Kaigi Views? Disgusting. Just when I thought we finally had a decent assemblymember.

I think skipping the event is a good thing. While the act of killing foreigners on rumors is potentially a policy with long-term negative results, societies need to move on as time heals all wounds.

Killing foreigners based on rumors is basically how most (all?) wars are started.

this was an earthquake, dude. chill

A natural disaster hijacked by dominant group to mete out violence and murder on the vulnerable minorities.

Tokyo bombing was a war in progress between dominant/equal forces.

Just sending a note of apologies for not being able to attend and empathy would have gone a long way.

After all, she heads a cosmopolitan city.

Funny this obsession with the specific numbers of people killed at the hands of Japanese, as if somehow if was only 10 rather than 100 (random numbers as I don't know the specific details), or in Nanking far right claims of none/very few/not that bad to a few hundred thousand by others somehow makes the injustice somehow less or ok...

And yes Tokyo is the most cosmopolitan city, I have been looking up a little on Koike and the positions she holds on "foreigners" or in my case a permanent residents.. and haven't come across much, this doesn't bode well though.

All these old fools sitting around in the stench of their own self importance... never mind the child care crisis, the well being of the people in terrible word situations, the safety of the city in natural or man made disasters, and even war.. no no we will sit around and worry about a discrepancy in the numbers of murdered people..

*terrible work situations.. Wish this had an edit function...

it is a silly idea to have a separate ceremony for foreign victims, honor all of them at once. a dumb idea like this is bound to cause controversy. dividing people by nationality for no reason

Dango Bong... if people were murdered because of rumours, nonsense and xenophobia I think thats worth remembering.

Really bad. Though not as bad as the diabolical comment by ex-gov Ishihara who claimed that foreigners or 'third-party individuals' as he would call them would cause trouble after an earthquake, when in fact exactly the opposite happened, as noted here. Still, to say Koike is not as bad as Ishihara is damning with faint praise, to say the least.

What? Due to a number disparity? Come on how stupid do they think people are...

The massacre was a Fact, Nanking a fact, arguments over actual numbers are moot and a handy distraction for revisionists. OK there is no paper work and Japan needs paper work or it never happened. So they feel good, dig up bodies, find photos but sadly no paper work, never happened. She is still a member of Nippon Kaigi who's agender is the white washing of history and a history distorted to make Japan totally blameless and its people angelic.

If even one person was murdered due to the lies spread after the quake it is one person too many. Why is it a thing in Japan to totally avoid all responsibility if the total number of people you killed is in dispute? 1,000 is just as bad as 6,000 in my eyes.

nakanoguy: "this was an earthquake, dude. chill."

Uhhh... the mass murder of a targeted ethnic minority is your mind forgivable because "it was an earthquake"?

It would be political suicide for her to do so. Sad but true

Back in 1923 there was only 1 Korea, so I guess given the threats coming from the North directed against Japan, it may be seen as inappropriate to honor those who could even have amongst them the current NK leader's distant relations.

Yuriko is just showing her true beliefs and racist attitude towards Koreans .

Maybe she also has a secret passion for Hitler just like T. Aso?

I see your true colors shining through... It was a matter of time. Can't imagine how much egg is on the faces of all the people that were fawning over this kaigi alumni. I truly can't fathom the depths of your gullibility!!

Why of course her policy is delay or repeat whatever the public say

interesting when the olympics and quake and mass foreigners in tokyo happen. 2020 yeah!

I like Koike even more now

In a natural disaster there is a deficit of information,water and food.Emotions run high and stress do so too.

In the 1995 Kobe earthquake there were rumors directed against Koreans too.

I personally heard sleights against Koreans!

History does tend to repeat and for that reason we should not forget the mistakes of the past.

Ah, another past time that right-wingers want everybody else to "move on" from. Only Japanese politicians can be grouping victims of a natural disaster with victims of murdering of an ethnic group (solely on a false assumption). Believe it or not, this mentality is still very much alive in Japan. There was a Vice documentary about a certain right-wing group that targeted ethnic Chinese during the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami. They falsely assumed that the Chinese were going to take the opportunity to loot stuff after the devastation, and sought to defend the streets by finding and killing them. That was one of their missions apparently.

ThePBotSep. 1  11:27 pm JST

Ah, another past time that right-wingers want everybody else to "move on" from. Only Japanese politicians can be grouping victims of a natural disaster with victims of murdering of an ethnic group (solely on a false assumption).

To be accurate, they are clumping together all the victims of of the 1923 Earthquake, the victims of racial hatred against an ethnic minority (not foreigners as Korea was part of Japan 1910-1945), and the Great Tokyo Air Raid in which up to 200,000 CIVILIANS are estimated to have been killed. For those who aren't aware, Curtis LeMay ran out of military targets and went to bombing civilian centers and he himself later stated that if we had lost the war he might have been tried as a war criminal. So if the Japanese don't have a problem with combining the victims of the Tokyo Air Raid with the 1923 Earthquake, why do the Koreans in Japan have a problem with combining the victims of the hate crimes (a concept and word which didn't exist back then) as well. To me this is an example of the forever a victim mentality of Koreans, even when they are Japanese of Korean ethnic background. No doubt a great many Koreans, who were Japanese at the time, died in the U.S. Air Raid as well.

Japan never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity

kurisupisuSep. 1  11:13 pm JST

In a natural disaster there is a deficit of information,water and food.Emotions run high and stress do so too.

In the 1995 Kobe earthquake there were rumors directed against Koreans too.

I personally heard sleights against Koreans!

Can you substantiate that? Open anti-Korean sentiment (and worse) is believable in 1923. But you're talking about 1995.

Koike skips tribute to Koreans 

Oh boo hoo, get over it

OssanAmerica: "So if the Japanese don't have a problem with combining the victims of the Tokyo Air Raid with the 1923 Earthquake, why do the Koreans in Japan have a problem with combining the victims of the hate crimes (a concept and word which didn't exist back then) as well."

That you need to ask this truly shows your character.

"To me this is an example of the forever a victim mentality of Koreans..."

The key part of your sentence is "to me"... "me" being a guy who even in the same comment he claims Koreans are part of a "forever victim" mentality, therefore accuses them of victimizing Japan.... at the ceremonies for when they were victims.

This article does not tell the details what really happened between the Japanese and the Koreans in the confusion of the Great Kanto Earthquake, and why Tokyo Governor Koike stopped sending memorial statement to the ceremony of Japan-Korea association.

Read the following article;

http://hontonorekishi.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-17.html