For the second consecutive year, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike has failed to pay tribute at an annual ceremony for the Koreans murdered in the chaos that followed the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, despite criticism from civic groups that organize the event.
The event Saturday to commemorate the massacre of the Koreans is held every Sept. 1 in front of a cenotaph in Yokoamicho Park in Sumida Ward.
Instead, Koike sent a condolence message to an indoors ceremony that was held nearby for all victims of the magnitude 7.9 temblor, which devastated the capital and surrounding areas. It was read aloud by a deputy governor the same day.