Declara'on of the Assembly of Chris'ans for 100-year Remembrance of Vic'ms of
the Massacre against Koreans and Chinese a>er the Great Kanto Earthquake
Purpose of the mee-ng
Upon the "100-year Remembrance of Vic7ms of the Great Kanto Earthquake Genocide against
Koreans and Chinese," we, who hold various ci7zenships, na7onali7es, cultures and languages,
gathered as the Lord’s people, who serve Christ and have ci7zenship in heaven, to face thefact that more than 6,000 Koreans and Chinese were massacred 100 years ago in the Great
Kanto Earthquake, and to shoulder together the heavy task of ques7oning the way we aretoday.
History of the massacre = State responsibility / Responsibility of the people 1
What is clear from the examina7on of history is that the rumors that were the source of themassacres were spread at the behest of the government, military, and police. Many ci7zenstes7fied that the source of the unfounded rumors was police oﬃcers. Furthermore, highestlevel oﬃcials of the Ministry of the Interior started to consider declara7on of mar7al law,which is not expected in the event of a natural disaster, on the very aQernoon of theearthquake and, without consulta7ng the Privy Council, approved and declared it in the nameof the Emperor at noon on the following day, September 2. Mar7al law is an emergency
measure that entrusts full power to the military, and is premised on the occurrence of riotsthat need to be "subdued". On the next day, the 3rd, rumors of “futei senjin” (insubordinateKoreans), which had no basis in fact, were transmi\ed as an oﬃcial message from theFunabashi Naval Transmi_ng Sta7on to senior local oﬃcers na7onwide in the name of thehead of the Police Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior. As a result, the massacre of Koreansspread throughout the Kanto region, carried out not only by mar7al law forces andgovernment oﬃcials, but also by vigilante groups organized under instruc7ons from above.
History of the massacre’s cover-up / Press control = State responsibility 2
Furthermore, the government of Japan consistently concealed the facts of the massacreagainst more than 6,000 Koreans and 700 Chinese, evaded responsibility by destroying
evidence of the disposal of the bodies of genocide vic7ms, and by controlling media. The
military and police who ins7gated the massacre were never held accountable, and allvigilantes who were tried as perpetrators of the massacre were acqui\ed in January of thefollowing year, by a special amnesty granted upon the marriage of the Crown Prince. Thus, noone was brought to jus7ce for the massacre.
Historical background leading to the massacre
The massacre against Koreans did not begin at the 7me of the Great Kanto Earthquake. It
occurred upon a line of events extending forward from 1894, when the Imperial Army of Japan“subdued (annihilated)” the resistance movement of Korean people demanding
independence against the coloniza7on of Korea by the Great Japan Empire, calling it the"Korean mob." Similarly, hos7lity spread across Japanese society when the Governor-Generalin Korea thoroughly suppressed the March 1st independence movement of 1919, which waslabeled the "Great Riot of insubordinate Koreans.” The term "insubordinate Koreans" wasused from around this 7me and, through the press, a sense of hos7lity, contempt, and fear
toward Koreans spread throughout Japan society, providing the pre-history that became thebasis for the massacre of Koreans in the Great Kanto Earthquake. The Korean genocide was
the result of hos7lities and prejudices that were fostered in Japanese society over many yearsof colonial domina7on.
Responsibility of the people / Responsibility of the church (Negligence and Silence)
Along with the Japanese ci7zens who carried out the massacre, or permi\ed atroci7es
through their silence, the churches of Japan must be ques7oned about their responsibility.
The a_tude of the Japanese church toward the massacre has consistently been that of abystander. For example, on the day aQer the earthquake, Masahisa Uemura's sermon, "TheManifesta7on of God's Work," made no men7on of the massacre, and Kanzo Uchimura wrote
in his diary about the gra7tude and respect he felt for the army and the night watchmen. In
Sakuzo Yoshino's "On the Korean Massacre Incident" (Chūō Kōron, November 1923) and in
Gien Kashiwagi's Jomo Kyokai Geppo, there are words about the sin of the massacre and calls
for repentance, but these voices did not spread. Compared to the Japan Tokyo Chosun YMCAand Seoul Central YMCA, who cooperated to inves7gate the massacre and acted to help
vic7ms, Japan’s Chris7ans were clearly indiﬀerent. The fact that Japan’s churches remained
silent for 100 years, without sharing the pain of the genocide, must be ques7oned before God,as bystanders and accomplices in the massacre. Eﬀorts are being made to know the facts, butthese are s7ll not enough. We must con7nue to ﬁght and overcome the hate that dwells within
us, while we con7nue to demand more accurate inves7ga7ons and public accountability fromthe Japanese state.
Lack of ques-oning by the governments of Japan and Metropolitan Tokyo about their
historical responsibility
Just as Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike stopped sending "memorial address" to the memorial
ceremony for Korean vic7ms of the Great Kanto Earthquake in 2017, there is no change in thestance of public authori7es to forget history and deny responsibility. The government of Japan
con7nues to ignore recommenda7ons of the Japan Federa7on of Bar Associa7ons, whichcalled for an inves7ga7on and apology for the massacre in 2003, and it con7nues to deny
responsibility even in 2023, when, during the ordinary session of the Diet, it refused requests
for another inves7ga7on based on exis7ng materials, saying, "no [records] are found" and "nofurther inves7ga7on is considered."
The history of genocide (100 years ago)— Suppression and disregard (across 100 years) —Unending hate in the modern era
In the course of many study sessions, we learned how, with the words “insubordinate Koreans”
that spread throughout Japanese society un7l the Great Kanto Earthquake, "oﬃcial hate"spread “public hate” by leaps and bounds and lead to genocide in the end. We were made tothink about how we, as human beings, can lose what is precious when the state and society
fail to sincerely face the mistakes of past history, when they try to conceal those mistakes andhide responsibility, and we realized that the persistent hate crimes against Koreans in Japanand discrimina7on against foreign migrants and resident in Japan are occurring as a result ofsuch history.
Theology of the remembrance of genocide vic-ms, and missional issues of the church
Even in Japanese society of today, prejudice against Korea and hos7lity toward China are aswidespread as they were 100 years ago, and hate crimes con7nue to occur. Each of us, who2

are called by the resurrected Lord and sent into the world as " salt of the earth and light of
the world," will return to the Lord's Cross to face the history of the Kanto genocide and carryon the work of mourning. And now, amid heightened anxiety about war, we will not be silent
about the violence that enmity and discrimina7on create, but will follow the Lord who brings
true reconcilia7on and peace, and will walk the path of mission to live with life "the smallest"(Ma\hew 25:40). As a church, and as Chris7ans, who are sent into such a society, we will
con7nue the work of inheriting memory. While repen7ng of our sin of acquiescence to reality,
we will con7nue to ﬁght against the state of society that excludes minori7es, to create a world
where we can live together beyond diﬀerences of ethnicity, culture, and language.
September 3, 2023
Assembly of Chris7ans for 100-year Remembrance of Vic7ms of the Massacre against Koreans
and Chinese aQer the Great Kanto Earthquake(Created by the Execu7ve Commi\ee of the " Assembly of Chris7ans for 100-year
Remembrance of Vic7ms of the Massacre against Koreans and Chinese aQer the Great KantoEarthquake ")3