“소년시절 조선인 학살 목격한 일본 시민이 세움”…간토대학살 103년, 희생자 달래는 ‘위령비’

On September 5th, a memorial for the victims of the Japanese government's massacre of Chinese and Korean populations during the Great Kantō Earthquake in 1923 stands in Yokohama, Japan. This memorial, known as the "Kanto Earthquake Chinese Remembrance Stone," was erected in 1974 by a Japanese citizen named Ishiba Daiji, who witnessed the massacre as an elementary school student.

Ishiba Daiji observed Chinese individuals tied to a thick rope and left no action to prevent the atrocities. The stone was placed by the Yokohama City Hall, which refused to build the memorial. The Yokohama City Hall's committee responsible for maintaining the stone explains that the historical event remains largely unrecognized and often denied as part of history.

The memorial is visited annually, and the committee emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and remembering the past to prevent history from repeating itself.