by REERA YOO
A debate on hate speech between Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto and an anti-Korean group leader nearly ended in a brawl as security guards were forced to separate the two men on Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Hashimoto agreed to debate Makoto Sakurai, the chairman of the Zaitokukai group, which is notorious for campaigning against “privileges” for ethnic Korean residents in Japan, such as the right to vote and access to welfare.
The debate was held amid rising concerns over incidents of hate speech towards Japan’s Korean population, which the Zaitokukai group has often instigated by holding rallies in Korean neighborhoods.
Within seconds of the debate, the two men began fighting over how they should address each other as Sakurai continued to use the disrespectful Japanese version of the word “you” to refer to the mayor.
Hashimoto, clearly irritated by his opponent’s lack of honorifics, replied, “Lumping together races and nationalities together and judging them — I want people to cut it out with those kind of statements.”
“So, you want people to stop criticizing Koreans at all?” Sakurai countered.
This comment caused Hashimoto to also abandon honorifics, calling Sakurai “annoying” and a “nuisance.” The two men then rose from their seats and took strides towards each other before being escorted back to their seats by security guards.
The scheduled 30-minute debate lasted less than 10 minutes.
The exchange abruptly ended with Sakurai firing insults at Hashimoto as the mayor prepared to leave the room with his security detail. However, Hashimoto did manage to land one final insult at Sakurai by tellling him, “We don’t need racists like you in Osaka.”
The YouTube video of the heated exchange attracted over 700,000 views.
According to the Guardian, the U.N. Human Rights Committee called on Japan to enact legislation to firmly address growing incidents of hate speech and racism against ethnic Koreans in August.
Photo courtesy of Kyodo via The Japan Times
