The stir caused by a textbook's descriptions of the mass lynching of Koreans following the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake has prompted Yokohama's board of education to order schools to collect the books from students.
In an unprecedented move, the board ordered municipal junior high schools to recall the 2012 edition of the book, a supplementary text, saying the use of the word "massacre" "can cause a misunderstanding." The term has also been criticized by some historians.
Immediately after the Sept. 1, 1923, earthquake in the Kanto region, unconfirmed rumors spread that Koreans were rioting and committing acts of sabotage. Based on the rumors, the army, police and vigilantes killed many Koreans, as well as Chinese and Japanese mistaken for Koreans. It's unclear because of the chaos how many were killed, but it's thought the slayings topped 6,000 in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture alone.