Martial Rule.

This is coolbert:

“Among the heathen, we shall find no persons that exceed the Japanese in manners!” - - Francis Xavier.

“Emotion clouds reason!” - - Michael Corleone.

In 1923 there occurred an event that surely demonstrates that “emotion clouds reason” is decidedly so!

In a most surprising place. And with a military dimension to it.

The Great Kanto Tokyo earthquake of 1923. In Japan.

The Japanese of course, are renowned the world over for their extreme politeness, manners, courtesy, etc. Smiling, bowing, respectful toward others. As was witnessed and commented upon by Francis Xavier himself. Such is the NORMAL nature of Japanese society. A very law abiding people. Foreign people visiting or living in Japanese cities remark how safe it is compared to even the safest of western cities.

The Kanto earthquake was an enormous disaster for the Japanese capital. 100,000 persons lost their lives from the earthquake itself. But what happened next was also a disaster. But a man-made disaster, as contrasted to the natural disaster of the earthquake.

Japanese militarists, best described as “Young Turks”, took advantage of the situation and spread a rumor that Korean nationals were looting the bodies and properties of dead Japanese. A pogrom began. A pogrom where Japanese mobs roamed the streets of Tokyo, seeking out Korean nationals, who would be caught and hung on the spot. AS MANY AS 8,000 KOREANS WERE MURDERED IN A FEW DAYS!!

Pogrom - - a government sponsored riot, usually directed at an ethnic minority!! From the Russian word for RIOT!!

"Though the word was not known in Japan at the time, the events have many of the characteristics of a pogrom, targetting Jews and other ethnic and religious groups in various countries."

[statistic seem to vary regarding the total number of Koreans murdered. Some say 8,000, others say 6,000, even a figure as low as 241 is bandied about!! Take your pick! I tend to favor the former rather than the latter.]

You may wonder how the Japanese were able to determine who is Japanese and who is Korean? An American probably could not tell the difference between a Japanese, a Korean, or a Chinese person. But the Japanese, they can tell, believe me:

"Because people with Korean accents pronounced "G" or "J" in the beginning of words differently, (jū-go-en, go-jū-sen) and (gagigugego) were used as shibboleths. Anyone who failed to pronounce them properly was deemed Korean."

"people found a way to distinguish Japanese from Korean or Chinese in order to force a person to pronounce certain phrases which is difficult to pronounce correctly for foreigners."

[this pattern of recognition is found everywhere. The ability of people being able to distinguish between ethnicities is found all over the world. Subtle but to the initiated very visible signs of WHO YOU ARE! Northern Ireland, Israel, India, it does not matter! That someone can differentiate between a Catholic and a Protestant, an Arab and a Jew, a Hindu or a Muslim, it can be done, and is done, as incomprehensible to Americans as it may seem!]

And for what you may ask, did the militarists initiate such behavior? Spreading false rumors of the like that they did! The object in all likelihood was to create, on purpose, an enormous amount of chaos, unlawful and un-Japanese behavior so that martial law would have to be declared. Martial law that would require, "bringing in the troops". A martial law regime would be put in place "for a time" that would end up being forever.

My opinion.

"In short, mob psychology means that the momentary and extreme emotional mental phenomenon which take place in unorganized group . . . People behave audaciously and do incredible things which they never do usually."

Even among the Japanese, emotion can cloud reason. Sure. It can amongst anyone.

coolbert.