On the 1923 Massacre of Koreans

The post World War 1 economy of Japan was a bit complicated to say the least, as Young elaborates in Beyond the Metropolis: Second cities and Modern Life in Interwar Japan. World War 1 was fought mostly in Europe, meaning that Japan was left with incredible opportunities for economic growth. This led to Cities becoming more productive, paving the way for Japanese manufacturing and the development of heavy industry at the cost of inflation that affected the middle and lower classes of these cities. The colonial policy of Japan was, on the other hand, not so stellar. During Lecture, the policies adopted in Taiwan seemed to diminish the locals and treat them as “unworthy” and “unprepared” to be a part of Japan. This alienation can lead to a citizen to wrongly believe that they are superior than another citizen based on birthplace alone. These two elements combined are never a good combination, as inflation and the fake idea of superiority tend to lead to violent tyrants to take power under the pretext of blaming an innocent group of people for all of a nation’s problems (a certain german leader comes to mind).

The combination of inflation and false superiority ultimately led to the tragedy of the 1923 massacre of 6,000 Korean people in Japan. People were desperate as inflation was at an all time high, which according to Young led to dramatic price rises known as boto where staple foods such as rice had increased their price by a factor of two. The people of Japan were angry, and they needed someone to manifest this anger onto, regardless of innocence of the second party. This is when the 1923 earthquake occured, which led to the Massacre of 6000 Koreans. After the earthquakes fires erupted, which by itself was already a tragedy. Soon after, rumors spread across the nation blaming Korean people for starting the fires, looting stores, amongst other crimes. The tensions finally reached a breaking point, as this was soon after the March First movement. Japanese vigilantes took it upon themselves to avenge the cities, who were probably motivated thanks to inflation and the sense of false superiority. This horrible incident goes to show how using minorities as a scapegoat and an unhinged sense of nationalism (not patriotism) can lead to the loss of innocent lives, which serves as a reminder to always fight for those who are in positions of less power than others as it not known when insurgent groups may target innocent lives in the name of the nation’s honor.