A women's group that broke the capital's hate speech by-law at a 2019 event contesting the number of Koreans massacred after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake has been approved to hold a similar event in Tokyo this year.

By approving the event, the Tokyo metropolitan government has taken a contradictory stance toward the group regarding its comments about ethnic Koreans.

A participant at a September 2019 event held by the group called Soyokaze (Breeze) said, “many Japanese had their homes burned and their relatives killed by recalcitrant Koreans living in Japan.”

The comments were recognized as hate speech, based on a metropolitan government ordinance.

Yet when the group submitted an application to use a Tokyo park to hold a similar event on Sept. 1, the metropolitan government gave its approval.

An official in charge said the group gave a verbal pledge when informed about points to be careful about in the application, including a provision that called on groups using the park not to make discriminatory remarks or engage in discriminatory actions.

But Yasuko Morooka, a lawyer who is an expert on hate speech issues, said the metropolitan government’s standards were weak because it could not restrict use of facilities by groups that have been certified as engaging in hate speech.

“The metropolitan government should review its conditions for restricting use of facilities by, for example, including a new condition of not approving use next year if discriminatory remarks are made at this year’s event,” Morooka said.

The person who made the remarks certified as hate speech was participating in a Soyokaze protest event on Sept. 1, 2019, at Yokoamicho Park in the capital's Sumida Ward.

The protest was held to counter an annual event there held at the same time to remember the Koreans who were massacred after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake due to rumors they had engaged in arson and looting as well as poisoning wells.

A committee made up of various groups including one promoting friendship between Japan and those from the Korean Peninsula has organized a memorial event since 1974 in front of a monument in the park for the victims.

Soyokaze has lobbied Tokyo metropolitan assembly members since 2016 to have the monument removed because it states the number of Korean victims at about 6,000. Soyokaze members contend there is no basis for that figure.

To draw attention to its protest of the memorial service for the victims, Soyokaze has held what it describes as a “memorial service of truth" at the same park and the same time as the memorial ceremony for the Korean victims since 2017.

At last year’s event, a tussle broke out between Soyokaze members and people critical of the group.

A blog post of someone claiming to be a Soyokaze member states “our objective is to have both events not approved” by the Tokyo metropolitan government.

Someone informed the metropolitan government of the comment about Koreans at the Soyokaze event on the grounds that it constituted hate speech.

The metropolitan government passed an ordinance against hate speech in October 2019.

After receiving notice of the possible violation, an evaluation panel held two meetings in July and certified that the comment about “having homes burned and relatives killed by recalcitrant Koreans” was an “inappropriate discriminatory remark.”

The metropolitan government publicized its finding on Aug. 3, but only released the contents that were certified as hate speech.

No mention was made of what group organized the event where the comment was made.

The name of the individual who actually made the remark was also not disclosed.

Moreover, neither the group nor individual who made the remark were informed about the hate speech certification.

A metropolitan government official in charge of such matters explained that the spirit of the ordinance was to focus on increasing awareness rather than sanctioning wrongful comments.

Both the group supporting the victims' memorial and Soyokaze submitted applications to use Yokoamicho Park on Sept. 1 and the metropolitan government approved both applications on Aug. 17.

There has to be both a high possibility of hate speech occurring as well as a likely interference with safe management of the facility through an encounter caused by the hate speech in order for Tokyo to deny people use of public facilities.

The verbal pledge by Soyokaze to abide by the provisions of the application to use the park convinced metropolitan government officials that neither of the conditions were met that would justify denying use of the park.

(This article was written by Naomi Nishimura and Senior Staff Writer Ryuichi Kitano.)