Reflection of Ishihara Mentality
By Kim Byong-kuk
Korea Times
4/25/2000

Shintaro Ishihara, governor of the Tokyo Metropolis, stated on April 9 at the anniversary of the 1st Division of the Self-Defense Corps that: ``The felonious crimes being committed by the third country people (designated the foreign residents of the Korean descent and the Chinese descent from Taiwan in Japan in the post Wold War II era) are so rampant that a riot is expected to take place in case of earthquake,'' emphasizing the need for deployment of a Self-Defense Corps contingent. (The Hankook Ilbo, April 13, 20, 2000) (my translation)

How on earth, after the elapse of 77 years, the ghosts of the ``Tokyo Great Earthquake'' are very much alive today and are raising their ugly, intimidating heads again.

On Sept. 1, 1923, a great earthquake assaulted the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area, which reduced the area to ashes and rubbles, killing over 140,000 people. They were the children of wrath in the unprecedented natural disaster. However, for the Koreans, the great earthquake is remembered as a mini-scale Holocaust in which some six to seven thousand Koreans were massacred cold-blooded by the mobs deliberately stirred up by the concerned Japanese authorities.

Commonly accepted stories based on eyewitness accounts and experiences of the victims survived from the indiscriminate killings were as follows: In an attempt to restore order by giving the agitated masses a hate object to focus their minds on, false rumors were spread by the concerned officials that the ethnic Koreans were putting poisons in the drinking water. The effect of the rumors was electric and spontaneous in bringing the mobs to the semblance of order. ``Chosenjin oh korse'' (Kill the Koreans) was echoing all over the Tokyo area. The mobs made bamboo spears and makeshift weapons and killed anyone who appeared to be Koreans. When the mobs were uncertain about the identity of the suspected, he was ordered to pronounce certain Japanese words, which were regarded, difficult to enunciate by the Koreans. This method of scrutiny enabled many Korean students to narrowly escape the calamity by passing the test while the less educated Korean workers failed in the test to be speared to death on the spot and they constituted the bulk of the victims.

The Japanese government has never opened up its archives and made whatever relevant data available for study. The government has not permitted excavation of the spot in the Araka Beach where the victims of the massacre were believed to have been buried in the mass tombs. No memorial has ever been built to console the souls of the victims of the massacre.

The Japanese government has never acknowledged officially that the massacre took place. In the Japanese history book, the massacre is simply a historical insinuation and did not happen as much as the Nanjing massacre in China.

No wonder, Ishihara insisted that he used proper Japanese words in a proper way and urged that anybody who were in doubt on the authenticity of his expression to visit the detention center in the Tokyo Police Headquarters to appreciate what the foreigners of illegal entry were engaged in.

Many German chancellors and high-ranking leaders in the post-World War II era expressed sincere repentance and openhearted apologies for the crimes and atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. Such an attitude has made a genuine reconciliation between Israel and Germany possible. Such a humble reflection of the past has never come from the Japanese leaders of the corresponding status.

I recall that, on Oct. 5, 1995, Tomiichi Murayama, then prime minister, stated at the Upper House of the Diet that 1910 treaty under which Japan annexed Korea was ``legally void,'' another prototypic example of a reflection of the Ishihara mentality.

The events leading to the 1910 Annexation Treaty were a series of banditry, coercion, treachery, and outright negation of the international pledges and obligations on the part of Japan.

In 1893, Japan pledged to recognize and guarantee the absolute independence of Korea at concluding the Japan-China Treaty of Peace. In 1895, a group of crooks under the protection of the Japanese legation in Seoul assaulted the Kyongbok Palace and assassinated the Empress Myongsung. In January 1904, Korean formally declared its neutrality at the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War but Japan violated the neutrality of Korea by sending its troops into Seoul without the consent of Korea.

Then, by the threat of its armed force, Japan coerced Korea into signing a protocol agreement, which enabled Japan to freely occupy the strategic points throughout the country.  Japan placed Korea under a de facto military rule by installing Japanese advisors in all strategic ministries. In 1905, Hirobumi Ito, accompanied by Gonsuke Hayashi, Japanese minister in Seoul, entered the palace under n escort of several companies of the Japanese troops and threatened Emperor Kojong and his ministers to accept the draft of the protectorate treaty (``Ulsa Treaty'') as prepared by Japan. Under the treaty, Korea, as a sovereign nation, existed only on paper.

In 1907, Japan forced Kojong to abdicate in favor of mentally feeble crown prince, Sunjong, and so on. This was what Murayama claimed as ``legally void.''

Until such a time when Japan gets rid of the Ishihara mentality, Japan will never win the friendship and confidence of the Korean people as well as that of the Asian people. The world is awaiting for Japan to exhibit a sincere repentance expressed by Konrad Adenauer and Willy Brandt.

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