The Hamamatsu War Incident and Its Depths" - 1948, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan

The Hamamatsu War Incident and Its Depths" - 1948, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan

In 1948, in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, where the postwar confusion was still deep in the air, a fierce feud broke out between a local gang, the Hattori clan, and a group of zainichi Koreans. The incident, also known as the "Hamamatsu Incident," was reported in the newspapers of the time with headlines such as "Gunfire in the City" and "Hamamatsu Disturbance; Police and MPs Dispatched," symbolizing the tension in postwar society and friction between ethnic groups.

After Hamamatsu was scorched by the war, the black market economy was rapidly expanding amid the stationing of the Occupation Forces and a shortage of goods. The Hattori clan took notice of this situation. As a local force, they began to intervene in street stalls, adult entertainment, and labor mediation, and clashed with a group of zainichi Koreans, who were also seeking a livelihood, over rights.

The conflict is said to have been sparked by the elimination of black market vendors and the retaliatory actions taken against them. Clashes between the two groups continued for several days, mainly in the Naka Ward of Hamamatsu City, and there were reports of the use of guns and Molotov cocktails. Civil unrest reached a peak, and finally the Hamamatsu Police and the Occupation Forces (MP) were dispatched to disarm and arrest the suspects. The police treated the incident as a "serious incident that shook the boundary between violence and security.

Although the incident was reported in bits and pieces in the national newspapers of the time (Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, and Mainichi Shimbun), it is difficult to access the print version of the incident online today. It is likely that reduced-size prints and microfilms of the newspapers are held at the Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library, the Hamamatsu City Central Library, and the National Diet Library, among other libraries.

In addition, some commentaries dealing with the Hamamatsu Incident exist in ADEAC, Hamamatsu City's archive of historical materials, and in the "Outline: History of Shizuoka Prefecture. Although these are not newspaper articles themselves, they provide valuable clues to understanding the actual situation of the incident, as they convey the administrative response and social atmosphere of the time.

The war was not merely a gang war, but a complex social phenomenon involving ethnic conflicts, defense of livelihood, and disorderly power struggles in the postwar period. In particular, the fact that the zainichi Koreans were organized to defend their livelihood, the attempts of the old Japanese gangs to counter them, and how the police and GHQ suppressed them, highlights the prototype for later anti-gang measures and discrimination against foreigners.

Although it is difficult to find traces of this incident when walking the streets of Hamamatsu today, it is an incident that should be remembered as a clue to understanding how postwar "violence for survival" emerged and left its mark on society.