A Japanese Citizen’s Memorial to Koreans Massacred in the Kanto Earthquake

A small stone memorial tucked into Yokohama’s Kuboyama Cemetery carries a simple explanation: it was built in 1974 by “a citizen who witnessed it as a boy.”

The citizen was Daiji Ishibashi, who saw the body of a Korean tied to a utility pole with a thick rope while fleeing the 1923 Kanto earthquake with his family. After the Yokohama mayor rejected his request for a memorial, Ishibashi built one himself for the Koreans killed in the massacre.

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a citizen who witnessed it as a boy

A Japanese civic group now manages the site and holds an annual ceremony. It says many Koreans were killed unjustly during the earthquake and that the victims’ names and the reasons for their killings remain unknown in many cases. The group argues that remembering Japan’s past wrongdoing is a first step toward a peaceful society. This year’s memorial service is scheduled for September 5.

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Many Koreans lost their lives unjustly during the Kanto earthquake, and this is still not sufficiently known. Their names and the reasons they were killed have not been established, and the event has been treated as if it never existed.

The memorial stands near a much larger mass grave for more than 3,300 victims, including Japanese people who died in Yokohama. An information board says more than 6,000 people believed to be Korean were killed during the earthquake, when rumors claimed that Koreans had poisoned wells or were setting Japanese homes on fire.

A 2023 book based on Kanagawa documents identified the occupations, ages, locations and times of death of 145 Koreans killed in Yokohama and elsewhere in the prefecture. Fourteen were identified by name. Yet the issue remains contested. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said she would not send a memorial message this year, continuing a practice in place since 2017, while the Japanese government says it has found no records establishing the facts when limited to its own investigation. Japanese and South Korean lawmakers recently called for a government investigation and official apology.

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Remembering the past wrongs Japan committed without evading history is the first step toward a peaceful society.