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 official statistics from the , as at October 2024, foreign population in Japan is estimated at 3.77 million, accounting for 3.04% of the total population of Japan.
The number of foreign workers has increased strongly in recent years, due to the aging population and a shrinking labor force. A news article in 2018 suggests that approximately 1 out of 10 young people residing in Tokyo are foreign nationals. 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.
Although Article 14 of the Constitution of Japan guarantees equality under the law and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, belief, sex, or social status, Japan does not have a comprehensive civil law which prohibits racial, ethnic, or religious discrimination. However, legal provisions and policies addressing specific issues do exist, including legislation such as the Hate Speech Act of 2016. Non-Japanese individuals in Japan sometimes face human rights challenges that differ from those faced by Japanese citizens. Notwithstanding such situations, the country currently lacks a national human rights institution. In recent years, some non-Japanese media has reported on cases that Japanese firms confiscate the passports of guest workers in Japan, particularly unskilled laborers.
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, including indigenous Ryukyuans, Ainu, and other underrepresented groups. Japan tends to consider 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.
Background Demographics
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.
Nationality Number Percentageof foreigncitizens 761,56324.8% 489,31215.9% North/South Korea436,67014.2% 298,7409.7% 209,4306.8% 139,3934.5% 98,8653.2% 60,8042.0% 57,2941.9%56,7011.8% Others491,79916.0% Total (as of 2022) 3,075,213 100%
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, nor do they include citizen descendants of immigrants. The total legal resident population of 2012 is estimated at 127.6 million.
By target Japanese ethnic minorities
The nine largest minority groups residing in Japan are: North and South Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Brazilian (many Brazilians in Japan have Japanese ancestors), Filipinos, Vietnamese, the Ainu indigenous to Hokkaido, the Ryukyuans indigenous to Okinawa, and other islands between Kyushu and Taiwan. The burakumin, an outcast group at the bottom of Japan's feudal order, are sometimes included.Neary, Ian, "Burakumin in contemporary Japan", in Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homeogeneity, Michael Weiner, ed. There are also a number of smaller ethnic communities in Japan with a much shorter history.
According to a 2008 report for the United Nations Human Rights Council, communities most affected by racism and xenophobia in Japan include:Diène, Doudou (2009), Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Intolerance: Follow-Up to and Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action , 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.
the national minorities of Ainu and people of Okinawa, people and descendants of people from neighbouring countries (Chinese and Koreans), and new immigrants from other Asian, African, South American and Middle Eastern countries.
Koreans
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, granting Koreans Japanese citizenship through the annexation of Korea. Zainichi (在日; lit. 'in Japan') Koreans are long-term residents of Japan who can trace their ancestry to this wave of Korean migration to Japan. Most came to Japan from Korea under Japanese rule between 1910 and 1945.John Lie Zainichi (Koreans in Japan) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008) 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 conscripted into forced labor and shipped throughout the Japanese Empire. He estimates that 60,000 Koreans died during forced labor in places such as Manchuria and Sakhalin.Available online:
During the Japanese rule of Korea, the Japanese government implemented a policy of cultural assimilation. 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 and suppressed, while the Japanese language was designated as the national language, 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, though the Korean language and Hangeul were still used in war-time propaganda until the last days of Japanese rule. 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. 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, GHQ estimates in 1946 indicated that approximately 650,000 Koreans remained in Japan.
After World War II, in the absence of a Korean government, two million Koreans were granted a temporary Joseon (, Japanese: ) nationality under the U.S. military government. As Joseon was annexed by Japan, Koreans with Joseon citizenship are de facto stateless. The meaning of Joseon nationality became vague following the division of Korea by the United States and the Soviet Union.
The last major wave of Korean migration to Japan started after South Korea was devastated by the Korean War in the 1950s. Most notably, a large number of refugees were from Jejuans escaping from the massacres on Jeju Island by the authoritarian South Korean government. When North and South Korea each established their own government, the Korean community in Japan was split between allegiance to North Korea (Chongryon) and South Korea (Mindan). Zainichi Koreans are prohibited from registering with North Korean nationality.
who identify themselves with Chongryon are an important money source for North Korea. One estimate suggests that the total annual transfers from Japan to North Korea may exceed US$200 million. Japanese law does not allow dual citizenship for adults over age 22 and until the 1980s required adoption of a Japanese name for citizenship. Partially for this reason, many did not obtain Japanese citizenship, as they saw the process as humiliating.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.
Although more 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 students attending Chongryon schools.Terror attacks on Koreans rise in Japan accessed at November 13, 2011 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.FM Spokesman Urges Japan to Stop Suppression of Chongryon , Choson Sinbo, 5/13/06.
When Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara referred to Chinese and Koreans as sangokujin 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 evoked images of the massacre of Koreans by civilians and police alike after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. Therefore, the use of the term in context of potential rioting by foreigners is considered by many as provocative, if not explicitly racist.Multiple citations:
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 uyoku dantai.Multiple citations: In 2022, it was reported that anti-Korean racism in Japan has been on the rise, with homes burned, including one in Utoro district in Uji, and death threats made towards ethnic Korean communities.
Mainland Chinese
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.
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.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. Renhō (born Hsieh Lien-fang ()), the former leader of the 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:
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.