Japanese citizens hold a memorial ceremony for Korean victims of massacres that occurred during the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 at Tokyo’s Yokoamicho Park on Sept. 1. (all photos by Cho Ki-weon)
A 96th anniversary memorial ceremony for Korean victims of massacres following the Great Kanto earthquake took place on Sept. 1 at Yokoamicho Park in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward. As intangible cultural heritage possessor Kim Soon-ja was performing a dance in white mourning clothes to soothe the spirits of the Koreans slaughtered in the earthquake’s wake, Japanese right-wingers who deny the massacre happened could be heard nearby shouting into a microphone. On the pretext of “remembering Japanese victims,” right-wing forces have been holding events and chanting massacre denialist slogans for the past three years at a distance of just 30m from the Korean victims’ memorial ceremony venue. During the right-wing event, Nobuyuki Suzuki, a member of the Katsushika ward council, declared, “We cannot pass false history down on future generations. This must be stopped.” Suzuki is the person responsible for a 2012 incident in which a stake bearing the words “Takeshima is Japanese territory” was tied to a comfort women statue in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
