HIEA112 Medium post #2 (Week 3)
Question: “Does thinking in these terms help us make sense of the 1923 massacre of 6,000 Korean people living in mainland Japan by a combination of police and vigilantes who took it upon themselves to kill the “unsacrificeable (see Ryang’s homo sacer)” people in their midst?”
The journey to modernization has not been a walk in the park. Instead, the urban experience was marred with challenges and even loss of lives as people embraced the change and fought for their position in the developed society. Louise Young discusses the modernization journey in the article “Beyond the Metropolis” and identifies diverse aspects and occurrences for consideration in the journey. One thing that caught my attention as I read through the article is interwar that brought significant economic implications at the time. It was a system for economic enhancement where the players could spring into new and widespread prosperity. The capitalist crisis arose when industries and other entrepreneurs struggled to catch up with the economic wave. Young notes that “In the new wave of public and private investments triggered by the war boom, the focus of development expanded into regions and localities” (4). This scenario meant that people needed to be vigilant in their lives and focus on embracing change.
The second article that I read is “The great Kanto earthquake and the massacre of Koreans in 1923” by Sonia Ryang. The article reflects the historical happenings involving Japanese citizens and Koreans where the Koreans were brutally tortured and killed. It was ethnic violence that captured significant attention from various global bodies to delve deeper into the matter and ensure peace prevails. As per the article, a time came when chaos erupted, and there were fires everywhere. The author notes that “at least 6,000 Koreans were killed in Tokyo and Kanagawa alone” because they had been singled out as objects of persecution and extermination. After reading these articles, I opine that thinking about the capitalist crisis, transformation in colonial policy, and the new conflicts do not make sense of the 1923 massacre that led to the massive killing. They were killed by the people who were supposed to protect them from any harm, the police — the transformation of post-war colonial policy discussed in chapter six of our course study.
There was no economic connection between the Korean killings and the claims from their killers, who perceived them as crucial enemies who were punishable by death. They must have died an excruciating death as described by the Ryang that “their hands were tied at the back with every piece of flesh marked by broken bones, the belly cut open, eyeballs gouged out, and body parts severed and gone” (735). It was a moment of colonial racism, and none deserved such brutal deaths because they should have alternatively worked together for a common course. The Korean massacre only pictured racial prejudice because they could have occupied any position like labor immigrants where it could have been possible to retain peace and unity. It still does not make significant sense as to why the Koreans were killed.
References:
Ryang, Sonia. “The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Massacre of Koreans in 1923: Notes on Japan’s Modern National Sovereignty.” Anthropological Quarterly, 76(4). 2003, 731–748.
Young, Louise. “Beyond the Metropolis: Second Cities and Modern Cities in Interwar Japan.” University of California Press. 2013.
Post-war Transformation of Colonial Policy (Lecture 6).
