The occurred in April 1948, when Japanese authorities, acting under the directions of the Government of the United States and the Japanese Ministry of Education, closed down private Korean ethnic schools operating in Japan. This caused protests across Japan that ranged in size to up to 20,000 civilians. The majority of the protests were concentrated on the streets of Osaka and Kobe, the capital of Hyogo Prefecture, where civilians protested the closure of the Korean schools. Hanshin, the location of many of the demonstrations, is the region that lies between Osaka and Kobe.
The protestors stormed the Hyogo Prefecture Office Building, and held the governor, the prefectural police chief, and officers of the Allied Occupation as hostages in an attempt to coerce them to rescind their decision to close the Korean ethnic school. While an agreement was briefly agreed upon, the Japanese and the U.S. government broke the deal, declared a state of emergency in Hyogo, and arrested thousands of Koreans living throughout the city.
The schools had been set up by Chōren, an organization for pre-1945 Koreans arrivals to Japan (also known as Zainichi), to preserve Korean heritage through Korean language education. However, the fear that communists had infiltrated the schools and were attempting to disrupt the U.S. occupation of the region prompted the closure of the schools.
In the 1950s, Koreans living in Japan were able to preserve the existence of Korean ethnic schools through privatization, distancing themselves from the Japanese Communist Party and by establishing Chongryon and Mindan, Zainichi organizations which are supported by the North Korean and South Korean governments, respectively.
Background
Japanese occupation of Korea
Korea went through a period of Japanese occupation from 1910 until 1945, starting with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, which integrated Korea into the Japanese Empire as a protectorate. In 1938, the Japanese government adopted a policy that aimed to assimilate Koreans by replacing Korean language education with Japanese language education. By 1943, speaking Korean was forbidden. Despite resistance, many Koreans also adopted Japanese names, in hopes of improving their opportunities and avoiding discrimination. Those who did not comply with the policy were forbidden from attending school, collecting wartime rations or working for the government.
Creation of Korean ethnic schools
Following World War II, the Japanese Empire collapsed and Korea gained independence. There was a significant Korean population (approximately 725,000) living in Japan at the time, and the majority were not able to practice Korean traditions under Japanese Imperial rule. After independence, Korean ethnic schools (known as minzoku kyoiku) were created in Japan to cater to the educational needs of the Korean minority that remained in Japan. The movement to create Korean schools was created by Chōren ("League of Koreans in Japan"), an organization that represented the interests of Koreans living in Japan. The League's aim was to preserve Korean culture among the minority inhabiting Japan. As many of the children who attended the schools were not fluent in Korean, the schools' mandate was to reconnect Korean children with their ethnic language and to facilitate a smooth transition, should they decide to return to Korea.
The School Education Law
Chōren was left-leaning in character, and allied itself with the Japanese Communist Party. This drew the ire of both the U.S. and Japan.
In 1947, the School Education Law was enacted in Japan under the instruction of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Forces Douglas MacArthur. This required all schools in Japan to be accredited by the state and made Japanese the only official language of instruction. Korean could only be used for extracurricular activities. Since the ethnic schools did not comply with these regulations, General MacArthur instructed that all the Korean schools be shut down. As a result of the 1947 School Education Law, the Governor of Hyogo Prefecture ordered all Korean ethnic schools to close down on April 10, 1948. Thirteen days later, on April 23, Japanese police and military used force to close down schools by physically removing students and nailing the doors shut. The police and military then blocked the entrance to Nada and Higashi schools to prevent students from entering.