Japanese textbook references 1923 Korean massacre By Adam Westlake

http://japandailypress.com/japanese-textbook-references-1923-korean-massacre-265248

Japanese textbook references 1923 Korean massacre

By Adam Westlake / June 26, 2012 / No Comments


A newly published textbook used in Yokohama junior high schools has finally made reference to the massacre of Koreans by Japanese soldiers and police following the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. Prior to this, all textbooks used vague language to describe the event. The textbook, titled Wakaru Yokohama (“Easy to understand Yokohama”), says that self-defense groups were formed, and both oppressed and massacred Koreans and Chinese.

Reported by the Mindan, a Korean newspaper published by Korean Residents Union in Japan, they also continued that the book described the self-defense groups as being formed by people from the military, police, and retired veterans, and were established in many part of the Yokohama area. Published just this year, the textbook is designed to give a look at the history, culture, and nature of Yokohama. Information about Koreans and Chinese being killed by the Japanese military and police has not been included in any textbooks until last year. Previous references were phrased as portraying the military being dispatched to prevent the murder of Koreans.

In addition, a photo was included in the textbook that shows a memorial stone from Yokohama’s Kuboyama Cemetery. Created in 1974 by a Japanese person who supposedly witnessed numerous massacres, the memorial is mean to be an atonement for the those who were killed. The books were finally changed because for the past year a retired Japanese public school teacher had protested the issue.

[Via Donga]