Antisemitism in Japan

With only a small and relatively obscure Jewish population, Japan had no traditional antisemitism until nationalist ideology and propaganda influenced a small number of Japanese in the years preceding World War II. During the war, Japan's ally Nazi Germany encouraged Japan to adopt antisemitic policies. In the post-war period, extremist groups and ideologues have promoted conspiracy theories, but antisemitism has not become a widespread phenomenon in Japan.

In 1918, the Imperial Japanese Army sent troops to Siberia to cooperate with the White movement. White Army soldiers had been issued copies of the , and Japanese soldiers first learned about antisemitism. The Protocols continue to be used as evidence of Jewish conspiracies even though they are widely acknowledged to be a forgery.

According to Dr. David Kranzler:

In 1925 Captain Norihiro Yasue published the first translation of the Protocols in Japanese. A Russian-language specialist, he was assigned to the staff of General Gregorii Semenov, a vehement anti-Semite who distributed copies of the Protocols to all of his troops. Along with a few dozen other Japanese soldiers, Yasue read and accepted the premises of the Protocols, and contributed for a time to various antisemitic publications, including Kokusai Himitsu Ryoku no Kenkyu (国際秘密力の研究, Studies in the International Conspiracy), under the pen-name Hō Kōshi. He later changed his views when in 1940 Japan signed the Tripartite Pact which formally sealed Japan's alliance with Nazi Germany. His newly pro-Semitic stance led to his dismissal from the Japanese Army.

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Wikipedia