View source for Racism in Japan

{{Short description|none}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2012}}
{{nihongo|'''Racism in Japan'''|人種主義|jinshushugi}} comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are held by various people and groups in Japan, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and action (including violence) at various times in the [[history of Japan]] against racial or ethnic groups.

According to [[census]] statistics in 2018, 97.8% of Japan's population are Japanese, with the remainder being foreign nationals residing in Japan.<ref name="国籍・地域別　在留資格（在留目的）別　在留外国人">{{Cite web |title=在留外国人統計テーブルデータ（令和４年末現在） |url=https://www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?page=1&layout=datalist&toukei=00250012&tstat=000001018034&cycle=1&year=20220&month=24101212&tclass1=000001060399&result_back=1&cycle_facet=tclass1%3Acycle&tclass2val=0&metadata=1&data=1 |access-date=2023-07-17 |publisher=独立行政法人統計センター}}</ref> The number of foreign workers has increased dramatically in recent years, due to the [[Aging of Japan|aging population]] and a shrinking labor force. A news article in 2018 suggests that approximately 1 out of 10 people among the younger population residing in Tokyo are foreign nationals.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO32872510R10C18A7EA2000/|title=外国人最多の249万人、東京は20代の1割 人口動態調査|date=July 11, 2018|access-date=2019-07-29|publisher=Nikkei News}}</ref> According to the [[CIA World Factbook]], Japanese make up 98.1% of the population, Chinese 0.5%, and Korean 0.4%, with the remaining 1% representing all other ethnic groups.

Japan lacks any law which prohibits racial, ethnic, or religious discrimination. The country also has no national human rights institutions.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-01-15|title=World Report 2020: Rights Trends in Japan|url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/japan|access-date=2021-07-14|website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref> Non-Japanese individuals in Japan often face human rights violations that Japanese citizens may not.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nagayoshi |first1=Kikuko |title=Prejudice against immigrants explained in numbers |url=https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/features/z0508_00213.html |website=[[The University of Tokyo]] |access-date=10 April 2022 |date=16 June 2021}}</ref> In recent years, non-Japanese media has reported that Japanese firms frequently confiscate the [[passports]] of guest workers in Japan, particularly unskilled laborers.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Ghosn wasn't the only one trapped in Japan — many foreign workers also want to escape|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/ghosn-wasnt-the-only-one-trapped-in-japan-many-foreign-workers-also-want-to-escape/2020/01/23/ea7bcaf0-3daf-11ea-971f-4ce4f94494b4_story.html|access-date=2021-06-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Murakami|first=Sakura|date=2020-01-23|title=Japan should ban confiscation of foreign employees' passports, lawyer says|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-immigration-idUSKBN1ZM0T8|access-date=2021-06-10}}</ref>

In the early 20th century, driven by an ideology of [[Japanese nationalism]] and in the name of national unity, the Japanese government identified and forcefully assimilated marginalized populations, which included indigenous [[Ryukyuans]], [[Ainu people|Ainu]], and other underrepresented groups, imposing assimilation programs in language, culture and religion.<ref name="Heinrich">{{Cite book |last=Heinrich |first=Patrick |year=2012 |title=The Making of Monolingual Japan: Language Ideology and Japanese Modernity |publisher=Multilingual Matters |location=Bristol, UK |isbn=978-1-8476-9656-4 |pages=4, 90–91, 95–96, 100}}</ref> Japan considers these ethnic groups as a mere "subgroup" of the Japanese people and therefore synonymous to the [[Yamato people]], and does not recognize them as a [[minority group]] with a distinct culture.<ref name="IMA">{{cite book|last=Inoue|first=Masamichi S.|title=Okinawa and the U.S. Military: Identity Making in the Age of Globalization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnsVoSw8hRgC|year=2017|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-51114-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Loo|first=Tze May|title=Heritage Politics: Shuri Castle and Okinawa's Incorporation into Modern Japan, 1879–2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NjsfAwAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-8249-9}}</ref><ref name="MasamiIto2009">{{cite news |author=Masami Ito |title=Between a rock and a hard place |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/05/12/news/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place/#.WJepb4WcFMt |date=12 May 2009 |newspaper=[[The Japan Times]] |access-date=5 February 2017}}</ref>

==Background==
===Demographics===
{{Further|Demographics of Japan}}

[[File:Foreigners in Japan in 2000 by citizenship.PNG|right|thumb|400px|Citizenship of foreigners in Japan in 2000.<br/>Source: Japan Statistics Bureau<ref>[http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/kokusei/2000/gaikoku/00/hyodai.htm Japan Statistics Bureau] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225055120/http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/kokusei/2000/gaikoku/00/hyodai.htm |date=December 25, 2007 }}, accessed December 8, 2007</ref>]]
About 2.4% of Japan's total legal resident population are foreign citizens. Of these, according to 2022 data from the Japanese government, the principal groups are as follows.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-24 |title=令和４年末現在における在留外国人数について |url=https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/publications/press/13_00033.html |access-date=2023-07-17}}</ref><ref name="国籍・地域別　在留資格（在留目的）別　在留外国人"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201405010052 |title=Disturbing trend: Japanese protesters use Nazism to attack Chinese, Koreans |work=AJW by The Asahi Shimbun |access-date=October 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013171259/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201405010052 |archive-date=October 13, 2014 }}</ref>

{|class=wikitable
|-
!rowspan="1"|Nationality!!Number!!Percentage<br />of foreign<br />citizens
|-
|{{CHN}}||align=right|761,563|| align="right" |24.8%
|-
|{{VNM}}|| align="right" |489,312|| align="right" |15.9%
|-
|{{flag icon|PRK}}{{flag icon|KOR}} [[North Korea|North]]/[[South Korea]]{{efn|Japan recognizes the Republic of Korea ([[South Korea]]) as the government of the entire [[Korean Peninsula]], and for this reason doesn't consider passports issued by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ([[North Korea]]) to be valid. Instead, Japan uses the term "[[Chōsen-seki|Chōsen]]" to refer to all ethnic Koreans in Japan who hold neither Japanese nor South Korean citizenship.}}|| align="right" |436,670|| align="right" |14.2%
|-
|{{PHL}}||align=right|298,740|| align="right" |9.7%
|-
|{{BRA}}||align=right|209,430|| align="right" |6.8%
|-
|{{NPL}}||align=right|139,393|| align="right" |4.5%
|-
|{{IDN}}|| align="right" |98,865|| align="right" |3.2%
|-
|{{USA}}||align=right|60,804|| align="right" |2.0%
|-
|{{TWN}}|| align="right" |57,294|| align="right" |1.9%
|-
|{{THA}}||align=right|56,701|| align="right" |1.8%
|-
|Others|| align="right" |491,799|| align="right" |16.0%
|-
!Total (as of 2022)|| align="right" |3,075,213|| align="right" |100%
|}

The above statistics do not include the approximately 20,000 U.S. military stationed in Japan, nor do they account for illegal immigrants. The statistics also do not take into account naturalized citizens from backgrounds including but not limited to Korean and Chinese, and citizen descendants of immigrants. The total legal resident population of 2012 is estimated at 127.6 million.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

==By target==
===Japanese ethnic minorities===
{{see also|Ethnic groups of Japan}}
The nine largest minority groups residing in Japan are: North and South [[Koreans in Japan|Korean]], [[Chinese people in Japan|Chinese]], Taiwanese, [[Brazilians in Japan|Brazilian]] (many Brazilians in Japan have [[Japanese Brazilians|Japanese]] ancestors), [[Filipinos in Japan|Filipinos]], [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]], the [[Ainu people|Ainu]] indigenous to [[Hokkaido]], the [[Ryukyuan people|Ryukyuans]] indigenous to [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]], and [[Ryukyu Islands|other islands]] between [[Kyushu]] and [[Taiwan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantoday.com/category/opinions/view/is-japan-really-racist|title=Is Japan really racist? ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion|date=November 11, 2013 |access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref> The [[burakumin]], an outcast group at the bottom of Japan's [[History of Japan#Feudal Japan|feudal order]], are sometimes included.<ref>Neary, Ian, "Burakumin in contemporary Japan", in Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homeogeneity, Michael Weiner, ed.</ref> There are also a number of smaller ethnic communities in Japan with a much shorter history.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

According to the United Nations' 2008 Diène report, communities most affected by [[racism]] and [[xenophobia]] in Japan include:<ref>Diène, Doudou (2009), [http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G08/107/31/PDF/G0810731.pdf ''Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Intolerance: Follow-Up to and Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517054553/http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G08/107/31/PDF/G0810731.pdf |date=May 17, 2011 }}, The United Nations Human Rights Council. From August 2002 to July 2008, Mr. Doudou Diène worked for the United Nations as the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.</ref>

* the national minorities of Ainu and people of Okinawa,
* people and descendants of people from neighbouring countries (Chinese and Koreans)
* and the new immigrants from other Asian, African, South American and Middle Eastern countries.

===Koreans===
{{Main|Koreans in Japan|Anti-Korean sentiment in Japan}}
<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[File:Kenkanryu cover.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Manga Kenkanryu (マンガ 嫌韓流, Manga Kenkanryū?), translated as '''Manga—The Anti-Korean Wave''']] -->

Since the [[Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876]] and up to World War II, Koreans sought asylum and educational opportunities that were available in Japan. In 1910, the Japan-Korean Annexation Treaty was established and it stated that Koreans would be granted Japanese citizenship by law because Korea was annexed by Japan. During World War II, the Japanese government established the National Mobilization Law.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

Following World War II, Koreans decided to illegally participate in the Post-World War II rebuilding of Japan because of the discrimination which they were being subjected to, both politically and economically; they were treated unfairly and paid low wages in Japan. {{Nihongo3|||Zainichi}} (resident in Japan) [[Korea]]ns are permanent residents of Japan registered as [[Joseon]] ({{Langx|ko|조선}}, Japanese: {{Nihongo3||朝鮮|Chōsen}}) or South Korean nationality. Joseon was annexed by Japan in 1910, therefore {{Nihongo3|||Zainichi}} Koreans with Joseon citizenship are de facto stateless. After World War II, two million Koreans living in Japan were granted a temporary Joseon nationality under the US military government (because there was no government in Korea then). However, the meaning of Joseon nationality became vague as Korea was divided by the United States and the Soviet Union, and in 1948 North and South Korea each established their own government. Some obtained South Korean citizenship later, but others who opposed the division of Korea or sympathized with North Korea maintained their Joseon nationality because people are not allowed to register North Korean nationality.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

Most {{Nihongo3|||Zainichi}} came to Japan from [[Korea under Japanese rule]] between 1910 and 1945.<ref>[[John Lie (professor)|John Lie]] ''Zainichi (Koreans in Japan)'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008)</ref> A large proportion of this immigration is said to be the result of Korean landowners and workers losing their land and livelihood due to Japanese land and production confiscation initiatives and migrating to Japan for work. According to the calculation of [[Rudolph Rummel]], a total of 5.4 million Koreans were also [[Conscription|conscripted]] into forced labor and shipped throughout the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese Empire]]. He estimates that 60,000 Koreans died during forced labor in places such as [[Manchuria]] and [[Sakhalin]].<ref>{{cite book |first=R. J. |last=Rummel |author-link=R. J. Rummel |title=Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1990 |publisher=Lit Verlag |year=1999 |isbn=3-8258-4010-7}}
Available online: {{cite web |title=Statistics of Democide: Chapter 3 – Statistics Of Japanese Democide Estimates, Calculations, And Sources |work=Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War |url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP3.HTM |access-date=2006-03-01}}</ref>

During the Japanese rule of Korea, the Japanese government implemented a policy of cultural assimilation. [[Culture of Korea|Korean culture]] was suppressed, artistic and literary works that opposed Japanese rule were subjected to censorship and prohibition, and the [[Korean language]] was regarded as a regional ethnic language {{Nihongo|2=民族語}} and suppressed, while the Japanese language was designated as the national language,<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=Hyong Cheol |date=2016 |title=Korean Language under the rule of Japanese Colony |url=https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050282812404993024 |journal=研究紀要 |volume=1 |pages=7–19 |quote=}}</ref> with Koreans being required to learn it. After a relatively lenient period, the Korean language course in public schools was downgraded to a non-compulsory subject in 1938 and cancelled in 1941,<ref name=":42">{{Cite web |last=Harihara |first=Takayuki |title=日本統治時代の朝鮮の教科書 |url=http://www.nipponwomamorukai.jp/syutyou/harihara_takayuki/nihontoutijidai_no_tyousennokyoukasyo.html |website=Nihonmamoru |quote=以上のような皇民化教育が行われる一方、朝鮮語の授業も必修科目として行われていました。1938（昭和13）年以降は必修科目ではなく、授業を行うかどうかは校長の判断にゆだねられることとなり1941（昭和16）年以降は朝鮮語の授業は行われなくなりましたが。冒頭の写真のように、その後も日常生活では普通に朝鮮語が話され、ハングルが用いられていました。}}</ref> though the Korean language and Hangeul were still used [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/MaeilShimpo_%28August14-1945%29.jpg in war-time propaganda] until the last days of Japanese rule.<ref name=":3" /> Koreans were forced to take Japanese names from 1940. However, Koreans resisted this policy, and by the end of the 1940s, it was almost completely undone. Thousands of ethnic Koreans in Japan were massacred as false rumors spread that Koreans were rioting, looting, or poisoning wells in the aftermath of the [[1923 Great Kantō earthquake]] in the [[Kantō Massacre]].<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=ja:関東大震災で犠牲の朝鮮人を慰霊 きっかけは墓地に埋もれていた碑文 |language=ja |date=September 4, 2021 |url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP9465L8P94UTIL00H.html |access-date=2021-11-23}}</ref> Many Korean refugees also came to the country during the [[Jeju uprising]] in the [[First Republic of South Korea]]. Though most migrants returned to Korea, [[Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers|GHQ]] estimates in 1946 indicated that approximately 650,000 Koreans remained in Japan.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

After World War II, the Korean community in Japan was split between allegiance to [[South Korea]] ([[Mindan]]) and [[North Korea]] ([[Chongryon]]). The last major wave of Korean migration to Japan started after South Korea was devastated by the [[Korean War]] in the 1950s. Most notably, the large number of refugees were from Jejuans escaping from the [[Jeju uprising|massacres on Jeju Island]] by the authoritarian South Korean government.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9bq66424|title=Diaspora without Homeland: Being Korean in Japan |last1=Ryang |first1=Sonia |last2=Lie |first2=John |date=2009-04-01 |website=Escholarship.org |access-date=2016-08-17 |quotation="The same threat hung over thousands more who had arrived as refugees from the massacres that followed the April 3, 1948, uprising on Jeju Island and from the Korean War"}}</ref>

{{Nihongo3|||Zainichi}} who identify themselves with Chongryon are also an important money source for North Korea.<ref>{{cite web |title=N. Korea threatens to 'bolster war deterrent' |work=[[Financial Times]] |date=2006-07-16 |url=https://www.ft.com/content/56732fa8-14fe-11db-b391-0000779e2340 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/56732fa8-14fe-11db-b391-0000779e2340.html |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=October 3, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Lost gamble: How Japan's attempt to slow nuclear work in North Korea failed |work=Wall Street Journal |date=1996-07-24 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/wsj/access/9988728.html?dids=9988728&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS&date=Jul+24%2C+1996&author=Glain%2C+Steve&type=91_1996&desc=Lost+gamble%3A++How+Japan%27s+attempt+to+slow+nuclear+work+in+North+Korea+failed |access-date=October 3, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001063945/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/wsj/access/9988728.html?dids=9988728&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS&date=Jul%2B24%2C%2B1996&author=Glain%2C%2BSteve&type=91_1996&desc=Lost%2Bgamble%3A%2B%2BHow%2BJapan%27s%2Battempt%2Bto%2Bslow%2Bnuclear%2Bwork%2Bin%2BNorth%2BKorea%2Bfailed |archive-date=October 1, 2007 }}</ref> One estimate suggests that the total annual transfers from Japan to North Korea may exceed US$200 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rand.org/commentary/112106AWSJ.html|title=Tokyo's Leverage Over Pyongyang|access-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref> Japanese law does not allow dual citizenship for adults over 22<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moj.go.jp/MINJI/minji06.html|title=法務省|work=moj.go.jp}}</ref> and until the 1980s required adoption of a Japanese name for citizenship. Partially for this reason, many {{Nihongo2|Zainichi}} did not obtain Japanese citizenship as they saw the process as humiliating.<ref>Tsutsui, K., & Shin, H. J. (2008). Global Norms, Local Activism, and Social Movement Outcomes: Global Human Rights and Resident Koreans in Japan. Social Problems, (3). 391. {{doi|10.1525/sp.2008.55.3.391}}</ref>

Although more {{Nihongo2|Zainichi}} are becoming Japanese citizens, issues of identity remain complicated. Even those who do not choose to become Japanese citizens often use Japanese names to avoid discrimination, and live their lives as if they were Japanese. This is in contrast with the Chinese living in Japan, who generally use their Chinese names and openly form Chinatown communities. An increase in tensions between Japan and North Korea in the late 1990s led to a surge of attacks against Chongryon, the pro-North residents' organisation, including a pattern of assaults against Korean schoolgirls in Japan.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/terror-attacks-on-koreans-rise-in-japan-1184794.html Terror attacks on Koreans rise in Japan] accessed at November 13, 2011</ref> The Japanese authorities have recently started to crack down on Chongryon with investigations and arrests. These moves are often criticized by Chongryon as acts of political suppression.<ref>[http://www1.korea-np.co.jp/pk/228th_issue/2006041508.htm FM Spokesman Urges Japan to Stop Suppression of Chongryon] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110210031805/http://www1.korea-np.co.jp/pk/228th_issue/2006041508.htm |date=February 10, 2011 }}, [[Choson Sinbo]], 5/13/06.</ref>

When Tokyo Governor [[Shintaro Ishihara]] referred to Chinese and Koreans as ''[[sangokujin]]'' {{Nihongo|2=三国人}} in 2000 in the context of foreigners being a potential source of unrest in the aftermath of an earthquake, the foreign community complained. 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. Therefore, the use of the term in context of potential rioting by foreigners is considered by many as provocative, if not explicitly racist.{{efn|Citations:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/29/national/anti-korean-groups-plea-to-use-public-facility-nixed/|title=Anti-Korean group's plea to use public facility nixed|date=June 29, 2013|access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/23/national/nationalism-rearing-ugly-head-with-greater-frequency/|title=Nationalism rearing ugly head with greater frequency|date=May 23, 2013|access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/04/national/rallies-dent-business-in-koreatown/|title=Rallies dent business in Koreatown|date=August 4, 2013|access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130826p2a00m0na006000c.html |title=Teenagers take action against hate speech-fuelled anti-Korean rallies |publisher=[[The Mainichi]] |date=August 26, 2013 |access-date=August 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831060206/http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130826p2a00m0na006000c.html |archive-date=August 31, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/opinion/AJ201309020006 |title=INTERVIEW/ Yasumichi Noma: Giving hatemongers a taste of their own medicine |work=AJW by The Asahi Shimbun |access-date=October 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017220719/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/opinion/AJ201309020006 |archive-date=October 17, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/2000-rally-against-hate-speech-in-tokyos-shinjuku|title=2,000 rally against hate speech in Tokyo's Shinjuku ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion|date=September 23, 2013 |access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201309230105 |title=More than 1,000 rally against discrimination, hate speech in Tokyo |work=AJW by The Asahi Shimbun |access-date=October 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017220623/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201309230105 |archive-date=October 17, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201312120046 |title=National Police Agency expresses concerns about xenophobic groups |work=AJW by The Asahi Shimbun |access-date=October 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017220722/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201312120046 |archive-date=October 17, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201312130059 |title=INTERVIEW: Foreigners' rights activist says new secrecy law may encourage xenophobia |work=AJW by The Asahi Shimbun |access-date=October 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017220725/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201312130059 |archive-date=October 17, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pad/news/view.jsp?req_newsidx=152045 |title=Anti-hallyu voices growing in Japan |publisher=[[The Korea Times]] |date=2014-02-21 |access-date=2016-03-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/07/08/national/crime-legal/japanese-high-court-upholds-ruling-anti-korean-activists-hate-speech/|title=Japanese high court upholds ruling against anti-Korean activists' hate speech|date=July 8, 2014|access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref>}}

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]].{{efn|Citations:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2985673&cloc=joongangdaily |title=Koreans in Japan abused: U.S. report|date=February 28, 2014 |access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://japandailypress.com/anti-korean-hate-speech-rallies-in-japan-criticized-by-us-human-rights-report-2845063/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228131616/http://japandailypress.com/anti-korean-hate-speech-rallies-in-japan-criticized-by-us-human-rights-report-2845063/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=February 28, 2014|title=Anti-Korean hate speech rallies in Japan criticized by US human rights report|work=The Japan Daily Press|access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/03/03/2014030301639.html|title=The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea – U.S. State Department Warns of Japanese Hate of Koreans|access-date=October 13, 2014|archive-date=December 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205114632/http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/03/03/2014030301639.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201403030038 |title=Volunteers remove anti-Korea graffiti in Tokyo's Shinjuku |work=AJW by The Asahi Shimbun |access-date=October 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017220540/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201403030038 |archive-date=October 17, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2985867|title=Japan's hate rallies cannot be tolerated|date=March 4, 2014 |access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140717p2a00m0na014000c.html |title=Japanese gov't urged to implement anti-hate speech laws amidst growing concern |work=mainichi.jp |access-date=October 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018005039/http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140717p2a00m0na014000c.html |archive-date=October 18, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/07/17/2014071701663.html|title=The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea – UN Pressures Japan to End Hate Speech|access-date=October 13, 2014|archive-date=January 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110161119/http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/07/17/2014071701663.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201407250046 |title=U.N. human rights panel urges Japan to silence hate speech |work=AJW by The Asahi Shimbun |access-date=October 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017220716/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201407250046 |archive-date=October 17, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/07/25/national/u-n-rights-panel-urges-japan-crack-hate-speech/|title=U.N. rights panel urges Japan to crack down on hate speech|access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2014/08/12/59/0301000000AEN20140812004300315F.html|title=U.N. to review issue of hate speeches against Koreans in Japan|access-date=October 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141103p2a00m0na008000c.html |title=Thousands of anti-hate speech demonstrators take to Tokyo streets |work=mainichi.jp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103170524/http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141103p2a00m0na008000c.html |archive-date=November 3, 2014 }}</ref>}} In 2022, it was reported that anti-Korean racism in Japan has been on the rise,<ref name=":1" /> with homes burned, including one in [[Utoro district]] in [[Uji]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=McCurry |first=Justin |date=2022-07-18 |title='Utoro is my identity': can a museum heal the scars of Korean migrants in Japan? |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/18/utoro-is-my-identity-can-a-museum-heal-the-scars-of-korean-migrants-in-japan |access-date=2023-09-19 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> and death threats made towards ethnic Korean communities.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Ryall |first1=Julian |title=Why is anti-Korean racism in Japan on the rise again? |url=https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3164210/why-anti-korean-racism-japan-rise-again |website=South China Morning Post |access-date=14 April 2022 |date=23 January 2022}}</ref>

===Mainland Chinese===
{{Main|Chinese people in Japan|Anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan}}
Mainland Chinese are the largest legal minority in Japan (according to the 2018 statistics as shown above). 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-07/2005-07-11-voa9.cfm |title=Voice of America news: UN Independent Investigator Raps Japan for Discrimination |access-date=October 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090204153432/http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-07/2005-07-11-voa9.cfm |archive-date=February 4, 2009 }}</ref>

===Taiwanese===
There are a number of [[Taiwanese people]] that reside in Japan due to Taiwan's history as being a colony of Japan from 1895 to 1945.<ref>Ka, G. (2014). The postwar transition of legal status of Zainichi Taiwanese (''Sengo zainichi Taiwan-jin no houteki chi no hensen''). ''Gendai Taiwan Kenkyu (Modern Taiwanese Studies)'', 45, pp.1-17.</ref> [[Renhō]] (born '''Hsieh Lien-fang''' ({{cjkv|c=謝蓮舫|p=Xiè Liánfǎng|r=Sha Renhō}})), the former leader of the [[Democratic Party (Japan, 2016)|Democratic Party]], is known to be the most famous mixed Taiwanese-Japanese politician.

In 2000, the then governor of Tokyo [[Shintaro Ishihara]] insulted the Taiwanese, referring to them as [[Sangokujin]]:

:I referred to the "many {{Nihongo3|||sangokujin}} who entered Japan illegally." I thought some people would not know that word so I paraphrased it and used ''[[gaikokujin]]'', or foreigners. But it was a newspaper holiday so the news agencies consciously picked up the {{Nihongo3|||sangokujin}} part, causing the problem.

:... After World War II, when Japan lost, '''the Chinese of Taiwanese origin''' and people from the Korean Peninsula persecuted, robbed, and sometimes beat up Japanese. It's at that time the word was used, so it was not derogatory. Rather we were afraid of them.

:... There's no need for an apology. I was surprised that there was a big reaction to my speech. In order not to cause any misunderstanding, I decided I will no longer use that word. It is regrettable that the word was interpreted in the way it was."<ref name="TimeInterview">"[http://cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/time/magazine/2000/0424/int.ishihara.html 'There's No Need For an Apology': Tokyo's boisterous governor is back in the headlines] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408091806/http://cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/time/magazine/2000/0424/int.ishihara.html |date=April 8, 2013 }}", ''TIME Asia'', April 24, 2000.</ref>

===Ainu===
{{Main|Ainu people}}
{{See also|Colonisation of Hokkaido#Negative impacts on the Ainu}}
The Ainu are an indigenous group mainly living in [[Hokkaidō]], with some also living in modern-day Russia. At present, the official Japanese government estimate of the population is 25,000, though this number has been disputed with unofficial estimates of upwards of 200,000.<ref name="Poisson, B 2002, p.5">{{cite book |last=Poisson |first=B. |date=2002 |title=The Ainu of Japan |publisher=Lerner Publications |location=Minneapolis |page=5}}</ref>

For much of Japanese history, the Ainu were the main inhabitants of Hokkaido. However, as a result of Japanese migration into the island after 1869, the Ainu were largely displaced and assimilated.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hokkaido {{!}} Facts, History, & Points of Interest |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Hokkaido |access-date=2020-09-14 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> Due to [[Meiji (era)|Meiji era]] policies, the Ainu were evicted from their traditional homelands and their cultural practices were outlawed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ainu: The Indigenous People of Japan |url=https://kirikomade.com/blogs/news/people-of-ainu |access-date=2020-09-14 |website=Kiriko Made |date=October 26, 2018 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |last=Fogarty |first=Philippa |date=June 6, 2008 |title=Recognition at last for Japan's Ainu |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7437244.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=September 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240627002453/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7437244.stm |archive-date=June 27, 2024}}</ref>

Research shows that Ainu on average have lower levels of educational attainment, a lower quality of life, and are in worse socioeconomic conditions than Yamato Japanese.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Okada |first=Mitsuharu Vincent |date=January 2012 |title=The Plight of Ainu, Indigenous People of Japan |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/517d61a6-a24a-4780-80b6-32c57b229f7b/content |journal=Journal of Indigenous Social Development |volume=1 |number=1 |pages=1–14 [2] |issn=2164-9170 |hdl=10125/12528}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Meyer |first=Stanisław |date=2011 |title=Japanese minorities and the question of citizenship: the case of the Ainu, Koreans and Okinawans |journal=Silva Iaponicarum |volume=27–28 |pages=64–82 [70] |issn=1734-4328 |url=https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/entities/publication/7c1dfda0-d3bf-4e20-b2c8-b0ba184fa7f8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250911121800/https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/entities/publication/7c1dfda0-d3bf-4e20-b2c8-b0ba184fa7f8 |archive-date=11 September 2025}}</ref> Professor of Japanese Culture Michele Mason highlights how these conditions are a result of the assimilation policies of the past and the colonial process that the Ainu were subjected to.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mason |first1=Michele M. |year=2012 |title=Dominant Narratives of Colonial Hokkaido and Imperial Japan: Envisioning the Periphery and the Modern Nation-State |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |url=http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/71693/1/29.pdf.pdf |isbn=978-1-137-33088-8 |doi=10.1057/9781137330888 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241218231346/http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/71693/1/29.pdf.pdf |archive-date=18 December 2024 |page=22}}</ref> One result of the assimilation policies has been the dying off of the [[Ainu language]], with [[UNESCO]] recognising it as critically endangered.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Martin |first=Kylie |date=2011 |title=Aynu itak: On the Road to Ainu Language Revitalization |journal=Media and Communication Studies |script-journal=ja:メディア·コミュニケーション研究 |volume=60 |pages=57–93 [59, 67–68, 71–72] |hdl=2115/47031 |hdl-access=free |url=https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/47031/1/MSC60_005.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421225339/https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/47031/1/MSC60_005.pdf |archive-date=21 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://minorityrights.org/communities/ainu/ |title=Ainu in Japan |publisher=[[Minority Rights Group International|Minority Rights Group]] |access-date=22 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217125023/https://minorityrights.org/communities/ainu/ |archive-date=17 February 2025}}</ref> Surveys conducted among Ainu people in 2017 found that 30% had experienced direct discrimination for being Ainu, with more having witnessed anti-Ainu discrimination and having anxiety about potential discrimination.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tzagernik |first=Tacchana |date=March 2021 |title=Torauma no gainen o Ainu no bunmyaku ni atehameru: Hikaku to kōsatsu |journal=アイヌ・先住民研究 |script-title=ja:トラウマの概念をアイヌの文脈に当てはめる : 比較と考察 |trans-title=Applying the concept of trauma to the Ainu context: a comparison and reflection |script-journal=ja:アイヌ・先住民研究 |trans-journal=Ainu and Indigenous Studies |volume=1 |pages=35–51 |doi=10.14943/97142 |hdl=2115/80885 |language=ja}}</ref>

===Ryukyuan===
{{Main|Ryukyuan people|Ryūkyū independence movement}}
The [[Ryukyuans|Ryukyuan people]] lived in an independent [[Ryukyu Kingdom|kingdom]] until it became a vassal of Japan's [[Satsuma Domain]] in 1609. The kingdom, however, retained a degree of autonomy until 1872 when the islands were officially annexed by Japan and restructured as [[Okinawa Prefecture]] in 1879. They are now Japan's largest minority group, with 1.3 million living in Okinawa and 300,000 living in other areas of Japan.<ref>{{cite book |first=Osumi |last=Midori |chapter=Language and Identity in Okinawa Today |editor1-first=Mary Goebel |editor1-last=Noguchi |editor2-first=Sandra |editor2-last=Fotos |date=2001 |title=Studies in Japanese Bilingualism |publisher=Multilingual Matters |isbn=978-1-85359-490-8 |url={{GBurl|lDBCqwLfp8UC|page=69}} |page=69}}</ref>

The [[Okinawan language]], the most widely spoken [[Ryukyuan languages|Ryukyuan language]], is related to Japanese, the two being in the [[Japonic languages]]. Ryukyuan languages were heavily suppressed through a policy of forced assimilation<ref>{{Cite web |title=Okinawans in Japan - Language Conflict Encyclopedia |url=https://www.languageconflict.org/conflict/okinawans-in-japan/ |access-date=2025-07-13 |language=en-US}}</ref> throughout the former [[Ryukyu Kingdom]] after it was annexed in 1872. With only the standard Japanese taught in schools and students punished for speaking or writing their native language through the use of [[dialect card]]s, the younger generations of Ryukyuans began to give up their "backwards" culture for that of Japan. The Japanese government officially labels the Ryukyuan languages as dialects (Hōgen) of Japanese,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} although they are not mutually intelligible with one another, or even between each other. In 1940, there was a political debate amongst Japanese leaders about whether or not to continue the oppression of the Ryukyuan languages, although the argument for assimilation prevailed.<ref>Heinrich, Patrick. ''Hōgen ronsō: the great Ryukyuan languages debate of 1940.'' Contemporary Japan – Journal of the German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo. Aug2013, Vol. 25 Issue 2, p167-187. 21p. 4 Charts. {{ISSN|1869-2729}}</ref> During the [[Battle of Okinawa]], the Japanese military commander sought to suppress spying by banning the speaking of [[Okinawan language|Okinawan]], which is often unintelligible to nonresidents. As a result, around one thousand civilians were killed by soldiers.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|author=James Brooke |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/20/news/oki.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060114010134/http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/20/news/oki.php |archive-date=2006-01-14 |title=1945 suicide order still a trauma on Okinawa |access-date=2013-10-12}}</ref> There are still some children learning Ryukyuan languages natively, but this is rare, especially on mainland Okinawa. The language still is used in traditional cultural activities, such as folk music, or folk dance.

After the annexation of the islands, many Ryukyuans, especially Okinawans, migrated to the mainland to find jobs or better living conditions. They were sometimes met with discrimination, such as workplaces with signs that read, "No Ryukyuans or Koreans."<ref>Inoue, Masamichi S. ''Okinawa and the U.S. Military: Identity Making in the Age of Globalization.'' Columbia University Press, 2007.</ref> At the [[Fifth National Industrial Exhibition|1903 Osaka Exhibition]], an exhibit called the "Pavilion of the World" (Jinruikan) had actual Okinawans, Ainu, Koreans, and other "backwards" peoples on display in their native clothes and housing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/adv/wol/dy/campus/newreport_0903_10.html |title=News Report:Campus Now:Waseda Online |website=Yomiuri.co.jp |access-date=2016-04-01}}</ref> During the fierce fighting in the Battle of Okinawa, some Japanese soldiers committed multiple atrocities against Okinawan civilians, including rape and murder, using them as human shields,{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}} and persuading or forcing them to commit suicide.<ref name=":4" /> In 2007, the [[Ministry of Education]] attempted to revise school textbooks to lessen mention of these atrocities, but was met with massive demonstrations in Okinawa.<ref>[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/06/23/news/okinawa-slams-history-text-rewrite/ Okinawa slams history text rewrite] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231213740/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/06/23/news/okinawa-slams-history-text-rewrite/#.VoWgLXbP2Uk|date=December 31, 2015}}, ''Japan Times'', June 23, 2007. Retrieved 2023-05-31.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Gheddo |first=Piero |url=http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Okinawa-against-Tokyo%E2%80%99s-attempts-to-rewrite-history-9666.html |title=JAPAN Okinawa against Tokyo's attempts to rewrite history – Asia News |publisher=Asianews.it |access-date=2013-12-04}}</ref>

Culturally, [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]] showed great influences from southern China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, reflecting its long history of trade with these regions. However, because of the standard use of Japanese in schools, television, and all print media in Okinawa, these cultural differences are often glossed over in Japanese society. Consequently, many Japanese consider Okinawans to be [[Yamato people|Yamato]] Japanese, sometimes ignoring their distinct cultural and historical heritage in insensitive ways.<ref name="IMA"/>

===Other groups===
{{See also|Americans in Japan|Australians in Japan|Bangladeshis in Japan|Brazilians in Japan|Britons in Japan|Filipinos in Japan|Indians in Japan|Indonesians in Japan|Iranians in Japan|Kurds in Japan|Mongolians in Japan|Nepalis in Japan|Nigerians in Japan|Pakistanis in Japan|Peruvian migration to Japan|Russians in Japan|Italians in Japan|Turks in Japan|Vietnamese people in Japan|History of the Jews in Japan}}

People of foreign origin and nationality are often called {{Nihongo2|外国人}} {{Nihongo3|||Gaikokujin}} (foreign country person) or {{Nihongo2|外人}} ''[[Gaijin]]'' (outsider or alien), with the latter term occasionally perceived to be [[pejorative]] and tended to be avoided by [[mass media]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Okamoto |first=Sachiko |date=2009-03-25 |title=Consideration on Avoiding Insensitive and Offensive Japanese Expressions |url=https://do-bunkyodai.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/114 |journal=Journal of Hokkaido Bunkyo University |language=ja |issue=10 |pages=63–73 |via=Hokkaido Bunkyo University Tsuruoka Memorial Library}}</ref>

South [[Sakhalin]], which was once part of Japan as [[Karafuto Prefecture]], had indigenous populations of [[Nivkh people|Nivkhs]] and Uilta ([[Orok people|Orok]]). Like the [[Sakhalin Koreans|Karafuto Koreans]] but unlike the Ainu, they were thus not included in the [[Evacuation of Karafuto and Kuriles|evacuation of Japanese nationals]] after the Soviet invasion in 1945. Some Nivkhs and Uilta who served in the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] were [[Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union|held in Soviet work camps]]; after court cases in the late 1950s and 1960s, they were recognised as Japanese nationals and thus permitted to migrate to Japan. Most settled around [[Abashiri, Hokkaidō]].<ref>{{harvnb|Weiner|2004|pp=274–275}}</ref> The {{ill|Uilta Kyokai|ja|ウィルタ協会}}<ref>[http://www.d2.dion.ne.jp/~bunkt/ Uilta Kyokai of Japan] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303235222/http://www.d2.dion.ne.jp/~bunkt/ |date=March 3, 2009 }}</ref> was founded to fight for Uilta rights and the preservation of Uilta traditions in 1975 by [[Dahinien Gendānu]].

The [[Bonin Islanders]] of the [[Bonin Islands]] have a varied ethnic background, including European, Micronesian and [[Kanak people|Kanak]].<ref>[http://nihongo.human.metro-u.ac.jp/~long/bonins/default.html The Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands Language and Culture Site, Daniel Long] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121124619/http://nihongo.human.metro-u.ac.jp/~long/bonins/default.html |date=January 21, 2011 }}</ref>

Although protection and refugee status has been granted to those seeking asylum from Myanmar, the same has not been offered to refugee [[Kurds in Japan]] from Turkey. Without this protection and status, these Kurds who have fled from Turkey due to persecution are generally living in destitution, with no education and having no legal residency status.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/03/national/japans-kurds-often-limbo-despite-significant-community/#.Vi2nMStGQrd|title=Japan's Kurds often in limbo, despite significant community – The Japan Times|work=The Japan Times|date=September 3, 2015 |access-date=March 24, 2016}}</ref> A clash took place outside the Turkish embassy in Tokyo in October 2015 between Kurds and [[Turks in Japan]] which began after a Kurdish party flag was shown at the embassy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/turks-kurds-clash-japan-turkey-elections-151025194639100.html|title=Turks and Kurds clash in Japan over Turkey elections|access-date=March 24, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/25/national/seven-injured-clashes-outside-turkish-embassy/|title=Turks, Kurds clash outside Turkish Embassy as voting kicks off|work=The Japan Times|access-date=March 24, 2016}}</ref> Beginning in spring 2023, there was a significant increase in anti-Kurdish Japanese posts on the social media platform X. This was possibly fueled by Turkish people posting in Japanese on the platform. Kurds have reported receiving death threats and demands for their expulsion from the country.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=2024-06-05 |title=Social media posters abroad fuel hatred of Kurds in Japan |url=https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/15285385 |website=[[The Asahi Shimbun]] }}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite news |date=2024-03-29 |title='I became afraid to go out': Hate speech escalates against Kurds in east Japan (Pt. 1) |url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240329/p2a/00m/0na/040000c |access-date=2024-10-12 |work=Mainichi Daily News }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-09-03 |title=Man whose video fueled anti-Kurd sentiment has 'mixed feelings' |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15412367#:~:text=Some%20Japanese%20groups%20have%20held,online%2C%20sometimes%20through%20falsified%20images. |access-date=2024-10-11 |work=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]}}</ref>

The [[Burakumin]] group within Japan is ethnically Japanese; however, they are considered of lower status and lower class standing in comparison to other ethnicities in Japan. They worked as primarily farmers and were considered peasants on the social hierarchy pyramid. 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.

Representation of black people in Japanese media, such as [[anime]], has been subject to criticism.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Video on Black Representation in Anime Posted By Guardian Newspaper|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2020-10-01/video-on-black-representation-in-anime-posted-by-guardian-newspaper/.164782|access-date=2021-02-12|website=Anime News Network}}</ref>

Instances of harassment, hate speech and discrimination targeting Russians living in Japan were reported after [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]]. Foreign Minister [[Yoshimasa Hayashi]] condemned human rights abuses against Russians that took place.<ref name="jptimes22discrimination">{{cite web|title=Japan foreign minister concerned about discrimination against Russians|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/04/20/national/yoshimasa-hayashi-russian-discrimination-concerns/|website=The Japan Times |date=20 April 2022 |access-date=13 June 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220613175524/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/04/20/national/yoshimasa-hayashi-russian-discrimination-concerns/ |archive-date=13 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In January 2024, three foreign-born residents in Japan sued the national and local governments, alleging racial profiling through illegal police questioning. The plaintiffs asserted that they experienced repeated distress from police questioning based on their appearance and ethnicity, which they claimed violated the constitution. They sought recognition of the illegality of racial profiling and 3 million yen ($20,250) in damages each. The lawsuit emerged during a surge in foreign workers in Japan and discussions on Japanese identity.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Butt |first=Maira |date=2024-01-29 |title=Foreign-born residents accuse Japanese government of racial profiling |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/japan/japan-racial-profiling-foreign-workers-b2486560.html |access-date=2024-02-05}}</ref>

== By field ==

===Higher learning===
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 (academic)|tenure]].<ref>Robert J. Geller, [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/258/5087/1421.pdf Letters: Tenure for Foreigners in Japan], ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'', '''258''', 5087, 1421 (1992).</ref>

===Non-Japanese citizens and crimes===
{{Further|Crime in Japan}}

As in other countries, foreigners sometimes do work that is not allowed by their visas, or overstay the terms of their visas. Their employment tends to be concentrated in fields where most Japanese are not able to or no longer wish to work.

The [[yakuza]] or Japanese organized crime has made use of Chinese immigrants in Japan as henchmen to commit crimes, which have led to a negative public perception.<ref name="worries">{{cite news|last=Wudunn|first=Sheryl|date=March 12, 1997|title=Japan Worries About a Trend: Crime by Chinese|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/12/world/japan-worries-about-a-trend-crime-by-chinese.html|access-date=April 30, 2010}}</ref>
In 2003, foreigners from Africa were responsible for 2.8 times as much crime per capita as Japanese natives but were slightly less likely to commit violent crime.<ref>{{cite web|title=Crime in Japan: analysis per nationality- Wa-pedia|url=http://www.wa-pedia.com/gaijin/foreign_crime_in_japan.shtml|access-date=October 13, 2014|work=Wa-pedia}}</ref>

According to National Police Authority records, in 2002, 16,212 foreigners were caught committing 34,746 crimes, over half of which turned out to be visa violations (residing/working in Japan without a valid visa). The statistics show that 12,667 cases (36.5%) and 487 individuals (0.038%) were Chinese, 5,272 cases (15.72%) and 1,186 individuals (7.3%) were Brazilian, and 2,815 cases (8.1%) and 1,738 individuals (10.7%) were Korean and ~6000 were others foreigners. The total number of crimes committed in the same year by Japanese was 546,934 cases.

Within these statistics, Japanese committed 6,925 violent crimes, of which 2,531 were arson or rape, while foreigners committed 323 violent crimes, but only 42 cases are classified as arson or rape. Foreigners were more likely to commit crimes in groups: About 61.5% of crimes committed by foreigners had one or more accomplice, while only 18.6% of crimes committed by Japanese were in groups. Japanese commit more violent crimes than foreigners.

By a 2022 study by the [[National Police Agency (Japan)|National Police Agency]] illegal residents decreased from 219,000 in 2004 to 113,000 in 2008, and in addition, the number of arrested foreign visitors decreased from 21,842 in 2004 to 13,880 in 2008. The percentage of foreign nationals in all arrestees charged in penal code crimes was about 2.0% and this number has remained relatively stable. While the percentage of foreign nationals among all arrestees charged in cases involving robbery or burglary was around 5.5% in 2008.<ref>
{{Citation|last=Kanayama|first=Taisuke|title=Rising Crime and Crime Reduction Strategies in 21st Century Japan (Police Policy Research Center)|date=26 October 2010|url=http://www.npa.go.jp/english/seisaku/Rising_Crime_and_Crime_Reduction_Strategies_in_21_Century_Japan.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307204312/https://www.npa.go.jp/english/seisaku/Rising_Crime_and_Crime_Reduction_Strategies_in_21_Century_Japan.pdf|archive-date=March 7, 2013}}</ref>

According to a survey conducted by the Tokyo Bar Association, more than 60% of 2,000 respondents from foreign backgrounds reported being interrogated by the police. Among those questioned, about 77% stated that the encounters seemed to lack any apparent reason other than their foreign appearance.<ref name=":2" />

The former head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Emergency Public Safety Task Force, Hiroshi Kubo, published a book called {{Nihongo|''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. He suggested, for example, that including visa violations in crime statistics is misleading. He also said that the crime rate in Tokyo is based on reported rather than actual crimes.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kobayashi|first=Kakumi|date=2006-08-24|title=Ex-deputy of Tokyo Gov. Ishihara cries foul over 'safe town' campaign|url=http://www.debito.org/?p=17|access-date=2011-09-06|via=[[Debito Arudou]]'s website}}</ref>

===Access to housing and other services===
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.<ref>[http://www.debito.org/roguesgallery.html "THE ROGUES' GALLERY" PHOTOS OF PLACES IN JAPAN WHICH EXCLUDE OR RESTRICT NON-JAPANESE CUSTOMERS] on [[Debito Arudou]]'s official website accessed at January 16, 2008.</ref>

In February 2002 plaintiffs sued a Hokkaido bathhouse in district court pleading racial discrimination, and on November 11 the Sapporo District Court ordered the bathhouse to pay the plaintiffs ¥1 million each in damages.<ref>{{cite news|date=2002-11-12|title=THE WORLD; Japanese Court Ruling Favors Foreigners; Bathhouse must pay three men who were denied entry.|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|location=Tokyo}}
</ref>

There have been a substantial number{{citation needed|date=August 2025}} of lawsuits regarding discrimination against foreigners. For example, in 2005, a Korean woman who attempted to rent a room was refused because she was not a Japanese citizen. She filed a discrimination lawsuit, and she won in Japanese court.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea – Korean Woman Wins Discrimination Damages in Japan|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2007/10/05/2007100561017.html|work=chosun.com}}</ref>

"Discrimination toward foreign nationals in their searches for homes continues to be one of the biggest problems", said the head of the Ethnic Media Press Centre. 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.<ref>[http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/e06a5300f90fa0238025668700518ca4/a80788bbc13a7676c1256be90035b864/$FILE/G0213907.pdf a UNHCHR report PREVENTION OF DISCRIMINATION The rights of non-citizens]</ref>

During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], many establishments started to exclude non-Japanese customers over fears that they would spread the coronavirus. For example, a ramen shop owner imposed a rule prohibiting non-Japanese people from entering the restaurant.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-02-22|title=Tokyo ramen shop owner sets "Japanese only" rule as countermeasure against coronavirus|url=https://soranews24.com/2020/02/22/tokyo-ramen-shop-owner-sets-japanese-only-rule-as-countermeasure-against-coronavirus/|access-date=2021-06-05|website=SoraNews24 -Japan News-}}</ref>

=== Healthcare ===
Japan provides universal health insurance for all citizens. Foreigners staying in Japan for a year or more are required to enroll for one of the public health insurance schemes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mitaka City{{!}}Municipal Office Information{{!}}National Health Insurance (Kokumin Kenko Hoken) |url=https://www.city.mitaka.lg.jp/foreign/english/003/006.html |access-date=2022-02-24 |website=www.city.mitaka.lg.jp}}</ref> However, before this policy was mandated, many foreign workers, particularly [[Japanese Brazilians]], were less likely to be covered by health insurance due to refusal of the employer.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kojima |first=Hiroshi |date=March 2006 |title=Foreign Workers and Health Insurance in Japan: The Case of Japanese Brazilians |journal=The Japanese Journal of Population |volume=4 |page=15 |citeseerx=10.1.1.510.4548 }}</ref>

Initially, many prefectures refused to allow foreigners from entering the [[National Health Insurance (Japan)|National Health Insurance]] (''Kokumin Kenkou Hoken'') as foreigners were not considered to be eligible. The policy was revised to include foreigners after local governments witnessed healthcare disparities between Japanese citizens and foreigners.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arudou |first=Debito|author-link=Debito Arudou|date=2008 |title=Medical Care for Non-Japanese Residents of Japan: Let's Look at Japanese Society's General "Bedside Manner" First |journal=Journal of International Health |volume=23 |page=3}}</ref> A study conducted revealed that incidences of increased poor health was high among the foreign workers living in the Tochigi Prefecture.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=国井 |first1=修 |last2=野見山|first2=一生 |date=1993 |title=外国人の医療に関する研究 |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjh1946/48/3/48_3_685/_article/-char/ja/ |journal=日本衛生学雑誌 |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=685–691 |doi=10.1265/jjh.48.685|pmid=8377254 |s2cid=20448422 |doi-access=free }}</ref> A quarter of these workers did not visit clinics or hospitals, due to language barriers and high medical costs. Nearly 60% of the 317 workers surveyed experienced difficulty in communicating in English.

Some hospitals have been known to turn patients away if they could not confirm their residence status.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-08-25 |title=Some hospitals in Japan imposing conditions for foreigners amid language, other concerns |work=Mainichi Daily News |url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190825/p2a/00m/0fe/005000c |access-date=2022-02-27}}</ref> The NTT Medical Center Tokyo, located in the Gotanda district of Tokyo, announced on their website that foreigners must present their insurance card ''and'' residence cards. If they were unable to then they would be denied service, with the exception of emergency cases. A maternity ward, located in Tokyo, had stated on their website that services would be limited for patients who could only speak at a conversational level in Japanese.

During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], many ethnic-minority healthcare providers have been found to not be assigned to treating patients with the COVID-19 infection.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sonoda |first1=Yuki |last2=Matsuzaki |first2=Yukie |last3=Tsubokura |first3=Masaharu |last4=Takebayashi |first4=Yoshitake |last5=Ozaki |first5=Akihiko |last6=Moriya |first6=Hiroko |last7=Hiroaki |first7=Shimmura |title=Ethnic-minority health care workers discrimination: An example from Japan during COVID-19 pandemic |journal=Journal of Global Health |year=2020 |volume=10 |issue=2 |article-number=020393 |doi=10.7189/jogh.10.020393 |issn=2047-2978 |pmc=7688191 |pmid=33282220}}</ref> 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.

=== Police racial profiling ===
In December 2021, the [[Embassy of the United States, Tokyo|U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan]] warned of "suspected racial profiling" by police across Japan against non-Japanese residents.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-embassy-tokyo-warns-suspected-racial-profiling-by-japanese-police-2021-12-06/ |title=U.S. embassy in Tokyo warns of 'suspected racial profiling' by Japanese police |first1=Chang-Ran |last1=Kim |first2=Elaine |last2=Lies |publisher=Reuters |date=6 December 2021 |access-date=4 April 2025}}</ref> Since 2022, the number of people coming forward about racial profiling complaints against police officers in Japan has greatly expanded.<ref name="tokoypoliceinvestigation" /> In January 2024, three foreign-born residents of Japan filed a lawsuit which alleged they were repeatedly questioned by police based on their physical appearances, with one plaintiff, Pakistan-born Syed Zain, claiming that he was harassed by police at least 70 times since arriving in Japan in 2002.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68137532 |title=Japan: Foreign-born residents sue government for alleged racial profiling |first=Kelly |last=Ng |publisher=BBC News |date=29 January 2024 |access-date=4 April 2025}}</ref> On 30 April 2024, an article was published by ''[[The Mainichi]]'' which detailed how an investigation found that numerous Japanese police officers had a high rate of racial profiling incidents which involved the targeting of foreigners.<ref name="tokoypoliceinvestigation">{{cite news |url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240427/p2a/00m/0na/019000c |title='We were told to target foreigners': Ex-officer on systematic racial profiling by Japan police |publisher=The Mainichi |date=30 April 2024 |access-date=4 April 2025}}</ref> One former officer inspector from a west Japan prefecture which saw police consistently being ordered by senior officers target foreigners for questioning, ID checks and searches even claimed to the newspaper that "we were told to target foreigners."<ref name="tokoypoliceinvestigation" /> According the former investigator, people with Korean, black and Southeast Asian roots were among those most frequently targeted, with Japanese police also regarding these groups of people to more dangerous than white people, stating "Officers assume (light-skinned people) are tourists or have a Japanese partner. But with people with dark skin, they tend to assume they're visa overstayers."<ref name="tokoypoliceinvestigation" /> On May 8, 2022, the ''[[New York Times]]'' reported that racial profiling was "prevalent" in Japan, but not often documented.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/world/asia/japan-police-racial-profiling-tokyo.html |title=Racial Profiling in Japan is Prevalent but Unseen |work=New York Times |date=8 May 2025 |access-date=4 April 2025}}</ref>

==History==
{{Japanese nationalism sidebar|Principles}}

===Pre-war xenophobia===
Racial discrimination against other Asians was habitual in Imperial Japan, which first practiced it during the start of [[Japanese colonialism]].<ref>[[Herbert Bix]], ''[[Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan]]'', 2001, p.280</ref> The [[Meiji era]] Japanese were contemptuous of other Asians because they believed that other Asians were inferior to them.<ref name=raceinjapan>{{cite web|url=https://apjjf.org/2020/20/Zohar.html|title=
Introduction: Race and Empire in Meiji Japan|first=Ayelet|last=Zohar|publisher=The Asia-Pacific Journal|date=October 15, 2020|access-date=November 12, 2023}}</ref> This sentiment was expressed in ''[[Datsu-A Ron]]'', an editorial whose author espoused the belief that Japan should treat other Asians as other [[Western imperialism in Asia|western empires]] treated them. Discrimination was also enacted against [[Ryūkyū people|Ryūkyū]] and [[Ainu people|Ainu]] peoples.<ref name=raceinjapan /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278729134|title=Language Conflict and Language Rights: The Ainu, Ryūkyūans, and Koreans in Japan.|first1=Stanley|last1=Dubinsky|first2=William D.|last2=Davies|date=January 2013|access-date=November 12, 2023}}</ref> The Shōwa regime preached racial superiority and racialist theories, based on the nature of ''[[Yamato-damashii]].'' According to historian Kurakichi Shiratori, one of Emperor [[Hirohito]]'s teachers: "Therefore nothing in the world compares to the divine nature ({{Nihongo3|||shinsei}}) of the imperial house and likewise the majesty of our national polity (''[[kokutai]]''). Here is one great reason for Japan's superiority."<ref>Peter Wetzler, ''Hirohito and War'', 1998, p.104</ref> 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.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

As stated in ''[[An Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus]]'', a classified report which was published by the [[Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare]] on July 1, 1943, just as a family has harmony and reciprocity, but with a clear-cut hierarchy, the Japanese, as a [[Supremacism|racially superior people]], are destined to rule Asia "eternally" as the head of the family of Asian nations.<ref>{{cite book |title=The World War Two Reader |last=Martel |first=Gordon |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=New York |year=2004 |isbn=0-415-22403-9 |pages=245–247}}</ref> The most horrific xenophobia of the pre-Shōwa period was displayed after the [[1923 Great Kantō earthquake]], where in the confusion after a massive earthquake, Koreans were wrongly maligned as poisoning the water supply. A vicious [[pogrom]] resulted in the deaths of at least 3,000 Koreans, and the imprisonment of 26,000.

In the 1930s, the number of attacks on Westerners and their Japanese friends by nationalist citizens increased due to the influence of [[Japanese military-political doctrines in the early years of the Showa period]], these attacks occurred after a long build-up which started in the [[Meiji period]], when a few ''[[samurai]]'' die-hards refused to accept foreigners in Japan.<ref>Wakabayashi, Bob Tadashi, ''Anti-Foreignism and Western Learning in Early-Modern Japan'', Council on East-Asian Studies, [[Harvard University]], 1986. {{ISBN|0-674-04037-6}}</ref> For an exception, see [[Jewish settlement in the Japanese Empire]].{{cn|date=October 2025}}

===World War II===
Racism was omnipresent in the press during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] and the [[Greater East Asia War]] and the media's descriptions of the superiority of the [[Yamato people]] was unwaveringly consistent.<ref>David C. Earhart'', Certain Victory'', 2008, p.335</ref> The first major anti-foreigner publicity campaign, called {{Nihongo3|||Bōchō}} (Guard Against Espionage), was launched in 1940 alongside the proclamation of the {{Nihongo3|||Tōa shin Chitsujo}} (New Order in East Asia) and its first step, the ''[[Hakkō ichiu]]''.<ref>David C. Earhart'', Certain Victory'', 2008, p. 339</ref> Initially, in order to justify Japan's conquest of Asia, Japanese propaganda espoused the ideas of Japanese supremacy by claiming that the Japanese represented a combination of all Asian peoples and cultures, emphasizing heterogeneous traits.<ref name="Eiji 2002">{{Cite book |last=Eiji |first=Oguma |year=2002 |title=A genealogy of 'Japanese' self-images |publisher=Trans Pacific Press |isbn=978-1-876843-83-0}}</ref>{{pn|date=October 2025}} 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.<ref name="Eiji 2002"/>{{pn|date=October 2025}}

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. This applied particularly to [[United States|Americans]], [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] and British; in [[Manchukuo]] at the same period [[xenophobia|xenophobic]] attacks were carried out against Chinese and other non-Japanese.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

At the end of World War II, the Japanese government continued to adhere to the notion of racial homogeneity and racial supremacy, as well as an overall complex of social hierarchy, with the Yamato race at the top of the racial hierarchy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kushner |first=Barak |year=2007 |title=The Thought War: Japanese Imperial Propaganda |publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]] |isbn=978-0-8248-3208-7}}</ref>{{pn|date=October 2025}} Japanese propaganda of racial purity returned to post-World War II Japan because of the support of the Allied forces. 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |author-link=Noam Chomsky |year=2015 |title=Year 501: The Conquest Continues |publisher=[[Pluto Press]] |isbn=978-0-7453-3547-6}}</ref>{{pn|date=October 2025}}

Similar to what would occur in Korea, the overwhelming presence of American soldiers, most of whom were young and unmarried, disrupted some of the traditional social and gender relations.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sims |first=Calvin |date=2000-07-23 |title=A Hard Life for Amerasian Children |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/23/world/a-hard-life-for-amerasian-children.html |access-date=2022-12-10 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Richard |last=Halloran |date=1976-06-02 |title=Now- Grown Children of G. I.'s in Korea Are Bitter |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/02/archives/nowgrown-children-of-gis-in-korea-are-bitter.html |access-date=2022-12-10 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> An unknown number of these children would be abandoned by their fathers. They would grow up associated with defeat and death in their own country and regarded as a reminder of Japanese subordination to a western power.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

===Post-war government policy===
[[File:Foreign residents in Japan.svg|thumb|500px|left|Transition of numbers of registered foreigners in Japan]]
Because of the low importance placed on assimilating minorities in Japan, laws regarding ethnic matters receive low priority in the legislative process.<ref name="japantoday.com">[http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/japan-disputes-racism-allegations-at-un-panel#show_all_comments] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604234515/http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/japan-disputes-racism-allegations-at-un-panel|date=June 4, 2011}}</ref> Still, in 1997, "Ainu cultural revival" legislation was passed which replaced the previous "Hokkaido Former Aboriginal Protection" legislation that had devastating effects on the Ainu in the past.

Article 14 of the [[Constitution of Japan]] states that all ''people'' (English version) or ''citizens'' (revised Japanese version) are equal under the law, and they cannot be discriminated against politically, economically, or socially on the basis of race, belief, sex, or social or other background.

However, Japan does not have [[civil rights]] legislation which prohibits or penalizes discriminatory activities committed by citizens, businesses, or non-governmental organizations. In January 2024, three Japanese citizens, including a man of Pakistani descent, filed a civil lawsuit against the Japanese government, alleging a consistent pattern of racially motivated police harassment and requesting improved practices, along with approximately ¥3 million ($20,330) each in compensation. The uncommon lawsuit in Japan aims to demonstrate that racial discrimination violates the constitution and international human rights agreements. 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. The lawsuit names the Japanese government, the Tokyo Metropolitan, and Aichi prefecture governments.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-29 |title=A group of Japanese citizens launches a lawsuit against the police to stop alleged 'racial profiling' |url=https://apnews.com/article/japan-police-lawsuit-discrimination-0b474ea7222ba3924e8e5abafa3981b5 |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=AP News }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine |date=2024-01-30 |title=Japan Police Accused of Racial Profiling |url=https://time.com/6589912/japan-police-racial-discrimination-lawsuit/ |access-date=2024-02-02 |magazine=TIME }}</ref>

Attempts have been made in the [[Diet of Japan|Diet]] to enact human rights legislation. In 2002, a draft was submitted to the [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]], but did not reach a vote.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0XPQ/is_2005_May_16/ai_n13829869 |work=Japan Policy & Politics |title=LDP forgoes immediate Diet submission of human rights bill |year=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928222403/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0XPQ/is_2005_May_16/ai_n13829869 |archive-date=September 28, 2008 }}</ref> 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.

Another issue which has been publicly debated but has not received much legislative attention is whether to allow permanent residents to vote in local legislatures. {{Nihongo3|||Zainichi}} organizations affiliated with North Korea are against this initiative, while {{Nihongo3|||Zainichi}} organizations affiliated with South Korea support it.

Finally, there is debate about altering requirements for work permits to foreigners. As of 2022, the Japanese government does not issue work permits unless it can be demonstrated that the person has certain skills which cannot be provided by locals.

===Comment by a U.N. special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia===
In July 2005, a United Nations special [[rapporteur]] on racism and xenophobia expressed concerns about deep and profound racism in Japan and the Japanese government's insufficient recognition of the problem.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unic.or.jp/new/pr05-057-E.htm |title=Press Conference by Mr Doudou Diène, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights |access-date=January 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070329065052/http://www.unic.or.jp/new/pr05-057-E.htm |archive-date=March 29, 2007 }}</ref><ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4671687.stm|title=Japan racism 'deep and profound'|date=July 11, 2005|publisher=[[BBC News]]|access-date=January 5, 2007}}</ref><ref name="diene_paper">{{cite book |last=Diène |first=Doudou |date=24 January 2006 |access-date=19 March 2019 |title=Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance |url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/566139?ln=en}}</ref>

[[Doudou Diène]] ([[United Nations Special Rapporteur|Special Rapporteur]] of the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights|UN Commission on Human Rights]]) concluded after an investigation and nine-day tour of Japan that racial discrimination and [[xenophobia]] in Japan primarily affect three groups: national minorities, the descendants of people from former [[Japanese colonies]], and foreigners from other Asian countries.<ref name="diene_paper" /> [[John Lie (professor)|John Lie]], a professor at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], believes that the widespread belief that Japan is an ethnically homogeneous society is inaccurate because Japan is a multiethnic society.<ref>[[John Lie (professor)|John Lie]] ''Multiethnic Japan'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2001)</ref> Such claims have long been rejected by other sectors of Japanese society such as the former Japanese Prime Minister [[Tarō Asō]], who once described Japan as a nation which is inhabited by people who are members of "one [[Race (human categorization)|race]], one [[civilization]], one [[language]] and one [[culture]]".<ref>"[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2005/10/18/national/aso-says-japan-is-nation-of-one-race/ Aso says Japan is nation of 'one race']". The Japan Times. October 18, 2005.</ref>

While it expressed support for anti-discrimination efforts, ''[[Sankei Shimbun]]'', a Japanese national newspaper, expressed doubt about the impartiality of the report, pointing out that Doudou Diène never visited Japan before and his short tour was arranged by a Japanese NGO, IMADR (International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination). The chairman of the organization is Professor Kinhide Mushakoji ({{Nihongo2|武者小路公秀}}), who is a board member (and the former director of the board) of the International Institute of the Juche Idea ([https://web.archive.org/web/20150101111941/http://juche.v.wol.ne.jp/en.htm 主体思想国際研究所]), an organization whose stated purpose is the propagation of ''[[Juche]]'', the official [[ideology]] of [[North Korea]].<ref>桑原聡, "報告の陰に連携" (産経新聞「妙」, November 13, 2005.)</ref>

In 2010, the UN [[Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination]] criticized the lack of anti-hate speech legislation in the country and the treatment of Japanese minorities and its large Korean and Chinese communities.<ref name="japantimes20100226">{{cite web |date=February 26, 2010 |title=Japan faces U.N. racism criticism |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2010/02/26/national/japan-faces-u-n-racism-criticism/#.VGQjdfTF_Kk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127194810/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2010/02/26/national/japan-faces-u-n-racism-criticism/#.VGQjdfTF_Kk |archive-date=2013-11-27 |work=The Japan Times}}</ref> The ''[[Japan Times]]'' quoted committee member Regis de Gouttes as saying that there had been little progress since 2001 (when the last review was held) "There is no new legislation, even though in 2001 the committee said prohibiting hate speech is compatible with freedom of expression."<ref name="japantimes20100226"/> Many members of the committee, however, praised the Japanese government's recent recognition of the Ainu as an indigenous people.<ref name="japantimes20100226"/>

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]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/12/an-advisor-to-pm-abe-praises-apartheid-says-it-might-help-japan.html|title=The Newspaper Columnist Who Wants to Bring Apartheid to Japan|work=The Daily Beast|date=February 12, 2015|access-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/02/13/author-causes-row-with-remarks-on-immigration-segregation/|title=Author Causes Row With Remarks on Immigration, Segregation|author=Yuka Hayashi|work=WSJ|date=February 13, 2015|access-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/20/national/outrage-grows-sono-apartheid-column/|title=Outrage grows over Sono 'apartheid' column – The Japan Times|work=The Japan Times|date=February 20, 2015|access-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/11414141/Japanese-author-provokes-furious-South-African-response-by-suggesting-a-new-apartheid.html|title=Japanese author provokes furious South African response by suggesting a new apartheid|date=February 15, 2015|work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref> She later stated "I have never commended apartheid, but I do think that the existence of a 'Chinatown' or 'Little Tokyo' is a good thing."<ref>{{cite news|title=Author Sono denies praising apartheid as criticism, bewilderment continue |date=February 17, 2015 |newspaper=Asahi Shimbun |url=http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201502170033 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223032440/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201502170033 |archive-date=February 23, 2015 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Japan}}
{{col div|colwidth=25em}}
* ''[[An Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus]]''
* [[Anti-Russian sentiment in Japan]]
* [[Antisemitism in Japan]]
* [[Eugenics in Japan]]
* [[Hakkō ichiu]]
* [[Japanese nationalism]]
* [[Japanese war crimes]]
* [[Statism in Shōwa Japan]]
* [[Manga Kenkanryu]]
* ''[[Minzoku]]''
* [[Nippon Kaigi]]
* ''[[Gaijin]]''
* [[Shina (word)]]
* [[Tōhōkai]] – a Japanese [[Fascism|fascist]] political party which advocated [[Nazism]]
* [[Uyoku dantai]]
* [[Zaitokukai]]
* [[Kikokushijo]] returned children
* [[Racism by country]]
* [[Fascism in Asia]]
* [[Racism in Asia]]
{{Div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
*日本 戸口調査, 166-1875." Images. FamilySearch. <nowiki>http://FamilySearch.org</nowiki> : 14 June 2016. Ehime Prefecture Library, Matsuyama. Kyushu Historical Museum, Ogōri. Nara Prefecture Library.
*Japan Statistics Bureau Archived December 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, accessed December 8, 2007
*Central Intelligence Agency. (2016). Japan. In The world factbook. Retrieved from <nowiki>[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/japan/ The World Factbook]</nowiki> 4. Masami Ito (12 May 2009). "Between a rock and a hard place". The Japan Times. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
*Disturbing trend: Japanese protesters use Nazism to attack Chinese, Koreans". AJW by The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
*Hohmann, S. (2008). "The Ainu's modern struggle". World Watch. 21 (6): 20–24.
* "Ainu". omniglot.com. 2009. Archived from the original on January 2, 2010. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
*Lewallen (2016). The fabric of indigeneity : Ainu identity, gender, and settler colonialism in Japan. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. pp.&nbsp;131–142. {{ISBN|978-0826357366}}.
* Tamura, Toshiyuki. "The Status and Role of Ethnic Koreans in the Japanese Economy" (PDF). Institute for International Economics. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
* OBA, Yoshio. "On Business History of Hokkaido Coal Mining and Shipping Corporation(3)". Hokkai-Gakuen Organization of Knowledge Ubiquitous through Gaining Archives. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
* Buraku Mondai in Japan: Historical and Modern Perspectives and Directions for the Future – Emily A. Su-lan Reber
* Tsutsui, Kiyoteru (2018-08-03). Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan.
*{{citation|first=Tessa|last=Morris-Suzuki|chapter=Becoming Japanese: Imperial Expansion and Identity Crises in the Early Twentieth Century|pages=157–180|title=Japan's competing modernities: issues in culture and democracy, 1900–1930|editor-first=Sharon|editor-last=Minichiello|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0-8248-2080-0}}
*{{citation|title=Race, Ethnicity and Migration in Modern Japan: Imagined and imaginary minorities|first=Michael|last=Weiner|publisher=Taylor and Francis|year=2004|isbn=978-0-415-20857-4}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120922225449/http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G06/103/96/PDF/G0610396.pdf?OpenElement Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance on his visit to Japan], 2006 (E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.2)
*[http://www.bayefsky.com/pdf/japan_t4_cerd_76.pdf CERD Concluding observations on Japan], 2010
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040404234647/http://www.bro.gr.jp/ Broadcast and Human Rights/Other Related Rights Organization]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20011201105549/http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/CLB/clb-01.html The Civil Liberties Bureau]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060523031435/http://www.mindan.org/eng/major/reference.php Movements carried on by Zainichi Korean] (English)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080224101339/http://www.mindan.org/eng/newspaper/index.php Online Newspaper covering Zainichi Korean and Mindan] (English)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071128140403/http://www.abcjapan.org/ Portal for 100-20 years of immigration between Japan and Brazil, Covering Dekasegi and their issues, Rare pictures]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090122102347/http://repositories.cdlib.org/gaia/gaia_books/10/ Zainichi (Koreans in Japan)] (English)

{{Immigration to Japan}}
{{Asia topic|Racism in}}
{{Racism topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Racism in Japan}}
[[Category:Racism in Japan| ]]
[[Category:Human rights abuses in Japan]]
[[Category:Society of Japan]]
[[Category:Racism by country|Japan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Japan]]
[[Category:Ethnicity in politics]]