Joshua Hammer, writing in the Smithsonian magazine, tells us the Kanto earthquake "accelerated Japan's drift toward militarism and war.
[2] On the evening of September 3, the Kameido police in Tokyo began arresting known social activists, suspecting that they would "spread disorder or forment revolution amid the confusion".
As many as 6000 Koreans were murdered due to the suspicion, founded or not, that they would use the civil unrest of the earthquake to overthrow the Japanese government.
[4] The police issued an official notice on October 14, claiming that troops had shot the men because they were agitating prisoners.
The following year, the Liberal Lawyers' Association and union leaders worked to bring the facts to light and establish responsibility, with partial success.