A century on from the Great Kanto Earthquake, movements are ongoing to commemorate the massacre of Korean residents unjustly targeted in its wake by baseless rumors, alongside other innocent lives lost in the witch hunt.
Near the banks of the Arakawa River in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward, a monument engraved with a Chinese character meaning “mourn” was erected by a citizens’ group in 2009 after it gathered accounts from around 100 eyewitnesses to unearth historical truths.
“Words alone float away and disappear. We must leave something visible behind,” said one of the group’s founding members ahead of the anniversary of the quake, which left about 105,000 people dead or missing in Tokyo and surrounding areas.