Racism in Japan

[4] In recent years, non-Japanese media has reported that Japanese firms frequently confiscate the passports of guest workers in Japan, particularly unskilled laborers.

Historically, the word has often been used pejoratively and Ishihara's statement brought images of the massacre of Koreans by civilians and police alike after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake to mind.

[b] In 2014, a United States government human rights report expressed concern about the abuse and harassment directed against Korean nationals by Japanese right-wing groups such as the Uyoku dantai.

[c] In 2022, it was reported that anti-Korean racism in Japan has been on the rise,[52] with homes burned, including one in Utoro district in Uji,[53] and death threats made towards ethnic Korean communities.

An investigator from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) said, racism against Koreans and Chinese is deeply rooted in Japan because of history and culture.

[59] Official recognition of the Ainu as an indigenous group occurred over a century later on June 6, 2008, as a result of a resolution passed by the government of Japan, which recognized both their cultural differences and their past struggles.

With only the standard Japanese taught in schools and students punished for speaking or writing their native language through the use of dialect cards, the younger generations of Ryukyuans began to give up their "backwards" culture for that of Japan.

[66][67] Culturally, Okinawa showed great influences from southern China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, reflecting its long history of trade with these regions.

The TBS television series Smile is about Bito Hayakawa, who was born to a Japanese mother and Filipino father, and struggled to overcome the difficulties faced as a mixed race child.

The main concerns of the latter groups are often related to their legal status, a public perception of criminal activity, and general discrimination associated with being non-Japanese.

Post-World War, the Burakumin group was heavily dissociated from society as the abolishment of the feudal caste system did not put an end to the social discrimination that they faced within restricting housing systems; movements and protests have been maintained throughout the years as they fight to receive and equal status as their peers in regard to access to certain educational, housing, and social benefits and citizenship rights.

In order to gain attention to the problems and injustices that they experience, groups such as the militant style, Buraka Liberation League, which uses presentations and speaking to prove and explain their frustrations to a panel.

[79] In January 2024, three foreign-born residents in Japan sued the national and local governments, alleging racial profiling through illegal police questioning.

[80] Although foreign professors teach throughout the Japanese higher education system, Robert J. Geller of the University of Tokyo reported, in 1992, that it was extremely rare for them to be given tenure.

[85] The former head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Emergency Public Safety Task Force, Hiroshi Kubo, published a book called Chian wa Hontouni Akkashiteirunoka (治安はほんとうに悪化しているのか) (in English: Is Public Safety Really Deteriorating?, ISBN 978-4-86162-025-6) disputing foreign crime statistics, suggesting that such statistics were being manipulated by politicians for political gain.

[86] A significant number of apartments, and some motels, night clubs, brothels, sex parlours and public baths in Japan have put up signs stating that foreigners are not allowed, or that they must be accompanied by a Japanese person to enter.

Organizers of the service said they hope to eradicate the racism that prevents foreigners, particularly Non-Westerners, from renting apartments since there are currently no laws in Japan that ban discrimination.

[97] Possible reasons for this include the low number of ethnic-minority healthcare providers working in Japan's clinics and hospitals, as well as language barriers.

According to historian Kurakichi Shiratori, one of Emperor Hirohito's teachers: "Therefore nothing in the world compares to the divine nature (shinsei) of the imperial house and likewise the majesty of our national polity (kokutai).

"[101] The Japanese culture long regarded Gaijin (non-Japanese) people to be subhumans and included Yamato master race theory ideology in government propaganda and schools as well.

[105] The first major anti-foreigner publicity campaign, called Bōchō (Guard Against Espionage), was launched in 1940 alongside the proclamation of the Tōa shin Chitsujo (New Order in East Asia) and its first step, the Hakkō ichiu.

[107] Japanese propaganda started to place an emphasis on the ideas of racial purity and the supremacy of the Yamato race when the Second Sino-Japanese War intensified.

[107] Mostly after the launching of the Pacific War, Westerners were detained by official authorities, and on occasion were objects of violent assaults, sent to police jails or military detention centers or suffered bad treatment in the street.

U.S. policy in Japan terminated the purge of high-ranking fascist war criminals and reinstalled the leaders who were responsible for the creation and manifestation of prewar race propaganda.

[109] Similar to what would occur in Korea, the overwhelming presence of American soldiers, most of whom young and unmarried, had a noticeable effect on the Japanese female populace.

[110] The obvious power dynamic after the war outcome, as well as the lack of accountability for American soldiers who impregnated Japanese women, placed these children into a negative light before their lives even began.

The plaintiffs, including two permanent residents and one foreign-born Japanese citizen, claim repeated unjustified stops and searches by the police based on their race, prompting concerns about the country's ability to address the increasing diversity resulting from a growing number of foreign workers.

[114] Had the law passed, it would have set up a Human Rights Commission to investigate, name and shame, or financially penalize discriminatory practices as well as hate speech committed by private citizens or establishments.

[121] The committee was critical of the lack of anti-hate speech legislation in the country and the treatment of Japanese minorities and its large Korean and Chinese communities.

[121] In February 2015, Ayako Sono, a former member of an educational reform panel, wrote a controversial column in Sankei Shimbun in which she suggested that more foreign workers should be imported in an attempt to alleviate labor shortages, but they should be separated from native Japanese with a system of apartheid.