Gaikin, V.A. Korean riots after the earthquake of 1923 in Japan and the police activities

Abstract: After the Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 it became a part of the Japanese Empire. In 1925 there was 103 000 of migrant workers in Japan, out of whom 54,5% were construction workers, 28% were factory workers, 8,3% were mine workers, 6,7% were servants and housemaids, 1,8% were dockside workers (loaders). Specific mentality of the Japanese people and the hierarchical character of their world view were reflected on their attitude to the migrants. In the opinion of the authors of the study held by the Ministry of Home Affairs in Japan “Position of the Koreans in Japan in 1925” “the Japanese viewed the Koreans as the lower race” For the first time in the Russian historiography, this article includes description and analysis of the causes of the Korean bashings in Japan in 1923, which included the actions of the branches of Japanese government taken in order to divert the vector of popular discontent to the Korean Diaspora, as well as quasi-spontaneous, mass anti-Korean hysteria of the people, which was the result of the induction of the will of the government. Topicality of article includes analysis of the Japanese experience in “digesting” the mass labor migration.

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