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日本のユダヤ人 יהודים יפנים | |
|---|---|
 Jewish community center in Tokyo | |
| Total population | |
| 2,000 – 4,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Kobe,Kansai region;Tokyo,Kantō region | |
| Languages | |
| English,Hebrew,Japanese,Yiddish | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Israelis |
Thehistory of the Jews in Japan reaches back at least to the 16th Century, although theories suspect much earlier possibly 8th Century.
It is theorised that the earliest Jews to arrive and settle in Japan, came from Tang Dynasty China in the 7th or 8th Century, where a community existed. This community is thought to have assimilated over time, although Jewish symbolism, depictions, biblical stories and practices (thought to have Jewish origin), survive and exist within a small area.[citation needed]
The earliest Jewish visitors of European origin, arrived in Japan with the Portuguese around 1543. These included Jewish seamen displaced to Spanish controlled Naples and Jews converted to Catholicism during the 1492 Spanish expulsion. Later some remained in the trading post on Dejima. In 1587, some of these settlers were displaced further into Japan, at least one known Jewish merchant arrived into the Yodo river in Kinki Region, where a Christian presence already existed.
Recent Jewish settlers were located inYokohama. By 1895, this community had about fifty families, and dedicated the first synagogue in the country. Jews also settled inNagasaki during the 1880s, which, as a significant port town, was more accessible to Jews fleeingRussian pogroms.[1]
Although the Jewish community in Nagasaki was much larger than the one in Yokohama, the effects of theRusso-Japanese War resulted in them largely disintegrating and passing on theirTorah scroll to the Jewish community inKobe. Until 1923, the Jewish community in Yokohama became the largest, however after the1923 Great Kantō earthquake, many relocated to Kobe, resulting in the Kobe Jewish community growing significantly.[1]
The Jewish community in Kobe in the early to mid 1900s consisted mainly ofRussian,German, andBaghdadi Jews from what is currentlyIraq,Syria,Yemen,Iran, and other places inCentral Asia and theMiddle East. Jewish people fromCentral andEastern Europe came to Japan for economic reasons, and in the 1930s, the developments in the continent.[1]
The Jewish community inTokyo was small until afterWorld War II, during the Americanoccupation of Japan and afterwards.[1] The Jewish community in Nagasaki ended in 1945.
Antisemitism in Japan rose afterWorld War I, in part due to the reaction to theOctober Revolution in Russia. Despite this, the Japanese government cooperated with Jewish communities in aiding Jewish refugees of Russia after this revolution.[1] In the 1930s, antisemitism became more prevalent, due to pacts signed withGermany in1936 and1940, as well as propaganda campaigns to turn the Japanese public against the "Jewish peril."[2]
Attitudes towards Jewish people were not uniform among individual diplomats and politicians, with many attempting to combat antisemitism, and stating that Japan owed Jewish people due to their participation in the Russo-Japanese War.[2]
Japanese diplomatChiune Sugihara issued transit visas to Polish and Jewish refugees. While the exact number of visas issued is unknown, it is estimated that he helped five thousand to six thousand Jews escape via Japan.[3]
During World War II, Japanese policy towards Jewish people was that those holding citizenship of a country would be afforded the same treatment as those from that country, and Jewish people designated as stateless — typically German and Polish Jews who had their citizenship revoked — were placed under surveillance due to their racial characteristics, similarly to their treatment of Russians.[2]
While there were individual incidents of harassment and some Jews were held in detention camps inJapan occupied Malaya, throughout the duration of the war, Jewish people as a whole were treated no worse than citizens of neutral countries. One exception was the request for French Indochina to institute similar restrictions of Jews to citizens of neutral countries with anti-Axis views.[2]
The main problem facing Jewish people in Japan and Japan occupied territories, such as Shanghai, was the shortage of supplies and money for refugees.[2]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(August 2024) |
After the war, the majority of Jews in Japan were American service men stationed in Japan as part of the occupation. In 1951 the Jewish Community Center was started as a social club by Russian Jewish emigres.[4]
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| Asia | |
| Europe | |
| Africa | |
| Oceania | |
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History of the Jews in Asia | |
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| States with limited recognition | |
| Dependencies and other territories | |
