Descendants of Kanto Massacre victims urge Japan to remember lessons of history

A memorial event was held in Tokyo on Thursday to commemorate the Korean and Chinese victims murdered because of baseless, discriminatory rumors after the Great Kanto Earthquake of Sept 1, 1923. After the strong quake led to over 100,000 people dead or missing, rumors of Koreans “poisoning wells” started circulating in Japan. Afterwards, nearly 800 Chinese residents and over 6,000 Korean residents in Japan fell victim to massacres orchestrated by Japanese military, law enforcement and nationalist extremists, according to research data.

At a news conference on Thursday, Zhou Jiajia, a descendant of a Chinese worker killed following the earthquake, urged the Japanese government to recognize the historical fact, make due compensation to the victims’ families, and learn from the lessons.

Video by Jiang Xueqing in Tokyo / China Daily