Photo/Illutration A memorial service for victims of the Great Kanto Earthquake is held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Memorial Hall on Sept. 1. (Natsuno Otahara)

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike stuck to her policy of not sending a message to a ceremony held Sept. 1 for Korean residents massacred in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.

However, she sent a message of condolence to a memorial ceremony held the same day for the 100,000-plus people who perished in the disaster.

In her message for the memorial service held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Memorial Hall in the capital’s Sumida Ward, Koike said the metropolitan government “is working to make the city stronger so that it can protect the lives of its citizens as a safe city 100 years on.”

The attendance of relatives of the deceased and other guests was canceled due to Typhoon No. 10. Only priests and the organizers took part.

The Great Kanto Earthquake struck at 11:58 a.m. on Sept. 1, 1923, leaving more than 105,000 people dead or missing. About 90 percent of victims were killed by fires.

The ceremony for Koreans was held in front of the memorial monument for Korean victims in the same Yokoamicho Park.

While successive Tokyo governors sent a message of condolence to this event, Koike discontinued the tradition in 2017.

“The souls of all victims are consoled at the service (at the memorial hall),” she has stated.

The killings were triggered by groundless rumors that Koreans were going on a looting and burning spree.

In a statement, the organizing committee has said, “Our ceremony has a different meaning from a memorial to victims of a natural disaster” and “We suspect there is a desire to turn a blind eye to historical facts.”

A citizens group plans to hold a ceremony in Saitama on Sept. 4 for Koreans murdered following the Great Kanto Earthquake.

Saitama Governor Motohiro Ono has said he was considering sending a message of condolence to the event, which would be his first for Korean victims.

At a news conference on Aug. 27, Ono described the massacres of Koreans as “extremely distressing.”

Saitama Mayor Hayato Shimizu has said he will send a message of condolence to the event as he did last year.

Sept. 1 is designated as the day of disaster prevention.

(This article was written by Natsuno Otahara and Ryuichi Kitano, a senior staff writer.)

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