On the 9th, the 100th anniversary of the Fukuda Village Incident, in which a group of merchants attacked by a local vigilante group in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture immediately after the Great Kanto Earthquake, killing nine people, a ceremony to commemorate the victims was held in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, where local people and the families of the victims offered a moment of silence.
In September 1923, immediately after the Great Kanto Earthquake, a group of drug peddlers visiting from Kagawa Prefecture in present-day Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, at what was then Fukuda Village, were beaten by local vigilantes because they were suspected of being persecuted Koreans at the time, and nine people were killed.
On the 9th, the 9th anniversary of this incident, a ceremony to commemorate the victims was held at the cenotaph set up near the site, and about 100 people, including local people, the families of the victims, and government officials of Kagawa Prefecture, participated.
Each participant laid flowers and offered a moment of silence.
The cenotaph was erected in 6 by citizens' groups from Kagawa and Chiba prefectures who have been investigating and passing on the story of the incident, and has become a base for holding memorial services and study sessions on the incident.
Masahiro Ichikawa, president of the Fukuda Village Incident Memorial Preservation Association, a citizens' group in Chiba Prefecture, said, "It was a good ceremony for many people to visit, but the discrimination problem behind the incident still continues. I want people to know about the incident again in order to create a society free of discrimination."
A representative of the bereaved family said, "Standing in front of the cenotaph for the first time, I could feel the victims' feelings that they must have been scared and wanted to return to Kagawa, and I would like the people of Chiba to know about the incident so that it does not fade away."
Audio data of survivors testifying about what was going on at the time is left behind
In this case, one survivor of one of the victim peddlers testified to the investigation of a civic group conducted after the war, and audio data was left behind.
The group recalled the situation when they were suspected of being Koreans, saying, "There is no doubt about Korea, so we should do it, and the people who came to us just told us to do it and do it without checking which one was Korean."
As for what it was like when nine people were killed, he said: "I heard two gunshots. They beat and poked me, and all the people who had breath were thrown into the Tone River."
Commenting on the incident, he said, "It's terrible, it's cruel, it's not something that humans do."