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The Enemy Within: Earthquake, Rumors, And Massacre In The Japanese Empire, Jinhee Lee
The Enemy Within: Earthquake, Rumors, And Massacre In The Japanese Empire, Jinhee Lee
Jinhee Lee
The experience of violence has powerful consequences in the transformation of history. The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake marked a moment of unprecedented material destruction and cultural rupture in the Japanese empire. The disaster soon became subject to human interpretation and political manipulation, for the trauma of the earth tremors and subsequent fire produced not only physical chaos, but also rumours and violence against the colonized in the metropolitan area. Such violence manifested itself in the massacre of Koreans immediately following the earthquake-triggered by rumours of arson, murder, and riots by Koreans in the Tokyo-Yokohama area. Despite the shock of rumours …