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History of the Jews in Japan

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The location ofJapaninAsia.
Japanese Jews
Nhật bổn のユダヤ nhân
יהודים יפנים‎
Jewish community center in Tokyo
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History

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Early settlements

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In 1572, SpanishNeapolitan Jewswho hadconverted to Christianityto escape, enteredNagasakionBlack ShipsfromPortuguese Macau.Remaining in Nagasaki, some of them reverted to Judaism, even reclaiming their family names (notably aLevite).

In 1586, the community, then consisting of at least three permanent families, was displaced by theShimazu forces.The Jews of Settsu absorbed some of them into its own community (at the time, a population of over 130 Jews), while a minority left or died.[citation needed]

Edo period

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Bernard Jean Bettelheim,a Christian missionary with British citizenship who was born and raised aHungarian Jewresided with his family at the Buddhist templeGokoku-jiinNaha,the chief port city of theRyukyu Kingdom(todayOkinawa prefecture), from1846until1854.Today, there is a monument at the temple.[1]

In 1861, Pogrom refugees fromRussiaandPolandmoved to the port of Nagasaki; these were the first Jews in Nagasaki since around 1584.[citation needed]

In 1867, over one week the Settsu Jewish community was pushed near extinction[clarification needed],disappearing altogether after theMeiji restoration.[citation needed]

Towards the end of theEdo period,with the arrival ofCommodore Matthew Perryfollowing theConvention of Kanagawaand the end of Japan's "closed-door" foreign policy, Jewish families again began to settle in Japan. The first recorded Jewish settlers arrived atYokohamain 1861. By 1895, this community, which by then consisted of about 50 families, established the firstsynagogueinMeiji Japan.[2]Part of this community would later move toKobeafter thegreat Kanto earthquakeof 1923.

Another early Jewish settlement was established in the 1880s inNagasaki,a large Japanese port city opened to foreign trade bythe Portuguese.This community was larger than the one in Yokohama, consisting of more than 100 families. It was here that theBeth Israel Synagoguewas created in 1894. The settlement would continually grow and remain active until it eventually declined by theRusso-Japanese Warin the early 20th century. The community'sTorah scrollwould eventually be passed down to the Jews of Kobe, a group formed of freed Russian Jewish war prisoners that had participated in theCzar's army and theRussian Revolution of 1905.

View ofBeth Israel SynagogueinNagasaki

From the mid-1920s until the 1950s, the Kobe Jewish community was the largest Jewish community in Japan, formed by hundreds of Jews arriving from Russia (originating from the Manchurian city ofHarbin), theMiddle East(mainly fromIraqandSyria), as well as fromCentralandEastern Europeancountries (primarilyGermany). It had both anAshkenaziand aSephardicsynagogue.[3]During this time,Tokyo's Jewish community (now Japan's largest) was slowly growing with the arrival of Jews from theUnited States,Western Europe and Russia.

Imperial Japan

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Main article:Jewish settlement in Imperial Japan

In 1905, at the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the community of Nagasaki went extinct. While the Iraqi community is formed in Kobe (about 40 families in 1941) Following Russia's 1917Bolshevik Revolution,antisemitismexploded in Japan, with many blaming Jews as being the "nature" of the revolution.[4]

Some Japanese leaders, such as CaptainInuzuka Koreshige( khuyển trủng duy trọng ), ColonelYasue Norihiro( an giang tiên hoằng ) and industrialistAikawa Yoshisuke( niêm xuyên nghĩa giới ), came to believe that Jewish economic and political power could be harnessed by Japan through controlled immigration and that such a policy would also ensure favor from theUnited Statesthrough the influence ofAmerican Jewry.Although efforts were made to attract Jewish investment and immigrants, the plan was limited by the government's desire not to interfere with its alliance withNazi Germany.Ultimately, it was left up to the world Jewish community to fund the settlements and to supply settlers and the plan failed to attract a significant long-term population or create the strategic benefits for Japan that had been expected by its originators. In 1937, Japan invaded China, with the Japanese ambassador to France telling the ruling Japanese that "English, American, and French Jewish plutocrats" were leading opposition to the invasion.[4]

On December 6, 1938, Five ministers council (Prime MinisterFumimaro Konoe,Army MinisterSeishirō Itagaki,Navy MinisterMitsumasa Yonai,Foreign MinisterHachirō AritaandFinance MinisterShigeaki Ikeda), which was the highest decision-making council, made a decision of prohibiting the expulsion of theJewsin Japan.[5][6]With the signing of the German-Japanese Anti-COMINTERN Pact in 1936 and the Tripartite Treaty of September 1940, however, antisemitism gained a more formal footing in some of Tokyo's ruling circles.[4]Meanwhile, the Japanese public was exposed to a campaign of defamation that created a popular image known as the Yudayaka, or the "Jewish peril."[4]

During World War II, Japan was regarded by some as a safe refuge fromthe Holocaust,despite being a part of theAxisand an ally of Germany. Jews trying to escape German-occupiedPolandcould not pass the blockades near theSoviet Unionand theMediterranean Seaand were forced to go through the neutral country ofLithuania(which was occupied by belligerents in June 1940, starting withthe Soviet Union,then Germanyand thenthe Soviet Unionagain). Of those who arrived, many (around 5,000) were sent to theDutch West Indieswith so-calledCuraçaovisas issued by the Dutch consulJan Zwartendijk,[7]and Japanese visas issued byChiune Sugihara,the Japaneseconsulto Lithuania. Zwartendijk went against Dutch consular guidelines, and Sugihara ignored his orders and gave thousands of Jews entry visas to Japan, risking his career. Together, both consuls saved more than 6,000 lives.

Sugihara is said to have cooperated withPolish intelligence,as part of a bigger Japanese-Polish cooperative plan.[8]They managed to flee across the vast territory of Russia by train toVladivostokand then by boat toKobein Japan. The refugees – 2,185 in number – arrived in Japan from August 1940 to June 1941.Tadeusz Romer,the Polish ambassador inTokyo,had managed to get transit visas in Japan; asylum visas to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Burma; immigration certificates to Palestine; and immigrant visas to the United States and some Latin American countries.

Most Jews were permitted and encouraged to move on from Japan to theShanghai Ghetto,China,under Japanese occupation for the duration of World War II. Finally, Tadeusz Romer arrived inShanghaion November 1, 1941, to continue the action for Jewish refugees.[9]Among those saved in the Shanghai Ghetto were leaders and students ofMir yeshiva,the only Europeanyeshivato survivethe Holocaust.They – some 400 in number – fled fromMirtoVilnawith the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and then toKeidan,Lithuania. In late 1940, they obtained visas from Chiune Sugihara, to travel from Keidan (thenLithuanian SSR) viaSiberiaand Vladivostok toKobe,Japan.[10]By November 1941, the Japanese moved this group and most of others on to the Shanghai Ghetto in order to consolidate the Jews under their control.[11]

The secretary of theManchurianLegation in BerlinWang Tifu( vương, thế phu. 1911–) also issued visas to 12,000 refugees, including Jews, from June 1939 to May 1940.[12]

Throughout the war, the Japanese government continually rejected some requests from the German government to establishantisemiticpolicies. However, some Jews who resided in Japanese-occupied territories were interned in detention camps in Malaysia and the Netherlands East Indies.[4]Jews in the Philippines also faced accusations of being involved in black market operations, price manipulation, and espionage.[4]Towards the end, Nazi representatives pressured the Japanese army to devise a plan to exterminate Shanghai's Jewish population and this pressure eventually became known to the Jewish community's leadership. However, the Japanese had no intention of further provoking the anger of theAlliesand thus delayed the German request for a time, eventually rejecting it entirely. OneOrthodox Jewishinstitution saved in this manner was theLithuanianHarediMir yeshiva.The Japanese government and people offered the Jews temporary shelter, medical services, food, transportation, and gifts, but preferred that they move on to reside in Japanese-occupied Shanghai.[citation needed]

The decision to declare theShanghai Ghettoin February 1943 was influenced by the police attaché of the German embassy in Tokyo,Josef Meisinger.In autumn 1942, he had lengthy discussions with the Japanese Home Ministry. Because the Japanese were mostly not antisemitic, he used their espionage fear to provoke actions against the Jewish community. To the Japanese he declared, that he was ordered fromBerlinto provide them all names of "anti-Nazis" among the German residents. Then he claimed that "anti-Nazis" were always "anti-Japanese" and added that "anti-Nazis" were primarily German Jews, of whom 20,000 had emigrated toShanghai.Meisinger's antisemitic intrigue worked. In response to his statements, the Japanese demanded from Meisinger a list of all "anti-Nazis". This list was, as Meisinger's personal secretary later confirmed, already prepared. After consultingGeneral Müller,Meisinger handed the list over to the Japanese Home Ministry and theKenpeitaiat the end of 1942. The list contained i. a. the names of all Jews with a German passport inJapan.Karl Hamel, the interpreter of Meisinger, who was present at the discussions with the Japanese authorities, later testified that this intervention led to a "real chasing of anti-Nazis" and to the "internment of quite a lot of people". He added that "this thesis may be regarded as the basic explanation of Mr. Meisinger’s activities in Japan with regard to the splitting up of the German Community into Nazis and anti-Nazis." This testimony of Karl Hamel to Allied interrogation specialists was kept strictly confidential for a long time. During lawsuits for compensation of inmates of the Shanghai Ghetto in the 1950s, former German diplomats were able to convince the judges, that the proclamation of the ghetto was a sovereign act of the Japanese and not related to German authorities.[13]

At war's end, about half of the Jews who had been in Japanese-controlled territories later moved on to theWestern hemisphere(such as the United States andCanada) and the remainder moved to other parts of the world, mainly toIsrael.

Since the 1920s, there have been occasional events and statements reflectingantisemitism in Japan,[14]generally promoted byfringe elementsandtabloid newspapers.

Postwar Japan

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Of the few Jews who remained in Japan after World War II, a large number left, many going to what would becomeIsrael.Some others married locals and were assimilated into Japanese society.

Presently, there are several hundred Jewish families living inTokyo,and a small number of Jewish families in and aroundKobe.A small number of Jewish expatriates of other countries live throughout Japan, temporarily, for business, research, agap year,or a variety of other purposes.

There are always Jewish members of theUnited States Armed Forcesserving onOkinawaand in the other American military bases throughout Japan.Camp Fosterin Okinawa has a dedicated Jewish Chapel where the Jewish Community of Okinawa has been worshipping since the 1980s. Okinawa has had a continuous presence of Rabbis, serving as military Chaplains, for the past 4 decades.

There are community centers serving Jewish communities in Tokyo[15]and Kobe.[16]TheChabad-Lubavitchorganization has two official centers in Tokyo and in Kobe[17]and there is an additional Chabad house run by Rabbi Yehezkel Binyomin Edery, aMesichist.[18]

In the cultural domain, each year, hundreds, if not thousands, of Jews visit the Chiune Sugihara Memorial Museum located inYaotsu,Gifu Prefecture, in central Japan. Chiune Sugihara's grave in Kamakura is the place where Jewish visitors pay their respect. Sugihara's actions of issuing valid transit visas are thought to have saved the lives of around 6,000 Jews, who fled across Russia to Vladivostok and then Japan to escape the concentration camps.[19]In the same prefecture, many Jews also visit Takayama city.

Rabbis

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Tokyo Jewish Community

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Chabad

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Jewish Community of Kobe

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Jewish Community of Okinawa

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List of notable Jews in Japan

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See also:Category:Japanese JewsandCategory:Jews and Judaism in Japan

People of Jewish descent

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Refugees, short expatriates

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Ambassadors

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Films

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  • Jewish Soul Music: The Art of Giora Feidman(1980). Directed by Uri Barbash.

See also

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References

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  1. ^Kerr, George.Okinawa: The History of an Island People.Revised Edition. Tuttle Publishing, 2000. pp279-340.;Okinawa rekishi jinmei jitenTrùng 縄 lịch sử nhân danh sự điển. Okinawa bunkasha, 2002. p69.
  2. ^Daniel Ari Kapner and Stephen Levine, "The Jews of Japan,"Jerusalem Letter,No. 425 24 Adar I 5760 / 1 March 2000, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.Archived8 November 2010 at theWayback Machine
  3. ^"History of Jewish Kobe, Japan".historyofjewishkobejapan.blogspot.sg.Archivedfrom the original on 29 March 2018.Retrieved7 May2018.
  4. ^abcdef"Japan & the Jews During the Holocaust".www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.Retrieved2019-10-12.
  5. ^"Question chiến tiền の nhật bổn における đối ユダヤ nhân chính sách の cơ bổn をなしたと ngôn われる “ユダヤ nhân đối sách yếu cương” に quan する sử liêu はありますか. また, đồng yếu cương に quan する thuyết minh văn はありますか. ".Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.Archivedfrom the original on 2011-09-16.Retrieved2010-10-02.
  6. ^"Do thái nhân đối sách yếu cương".Five ministers council.Japan Center for Asian Historical Record.1938-12-06. p. 36/42.Retrieved2010-10-02.[dead link]
  7. ^"Jan Zwartendijk".collections.ushmm.org.Retrieved21 October2023.
  8. ^Palasz-Rutkowska, Ewa (13 March 1995)."Polish-Japanese Secret Cooperation During World War II: Sugihara Chiune and Polish Intelligence".Tokyo: The Asiatic Society of Japan Bulletin. Archived fromthe originalon 16 July 2011 – via Tokyo International University.
  9. ^Andrzej Guryn, "Tadeusza Romera Pomoc Żydom Polskim na Dalekim Wschodzie,"Biuletyn Polskiego Instytutu Naukowego w Kanadzie,vol X,1993Archived2011-07-27 at theWayback Machine(in Polish)
  10. ^"Shanghai Jewish History".Shanghai Jewish Center. Archived fromthe originalon 29 May 2010.
  11. ^Pamela Shatzkes. Kobe: A Japanese haven for Jewish refugees, 1940–1941. Japan Forum, 1469-932X, Volume 3, Issue 2, 1991, pp. 257–273
  12. ^Abe, Yoshio (July 2002),Chiến tiền の nhật bổn における đối ユダヤ nhân chính sách の転 hồi điểm(PDF),Studies in Languages and Cultures, No. 16,Kyushu University,p. 9, archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2014-01-16
  13. ^Jochem, Clemens:Der Fall Foerster: Die deutsch-japanische Maschinenfabrik in Tokio und das Jüdische HilfskomiteeHentrich & Hentrich, Berlin 2017, pp. 82–90 and pp. 229–233,ISBN978-3-95565-225-8.
  14. ^Jacob Kovalio,The Russian Protocols of Zion in Japan: Yudayaka/Jewish Peril Propaganda and Debates in the 1920s,Vol. 64 of Asian Thought and Culture, Peter Lang, 2009ISBN1433106094
  15. ^"Jewish Community of Japan".Archivedfrom the original on 2006-01-17.
  16. ^"Jewish Community of Kansai".Archivedfrom the original on 2013-01-29.
  17. ^"Chabad Lubavitch of Japan, Tokyo".www.chabad.jp.Archivedfrom the original on 12 September 2011.Retrieved7 May2018.
  18. ^"Welcome to Chabad of Tokyo, Japan! - Chabad Tokyo Japan".Chabad Tokyo Japan.Archivedfrom the original on 21 January 2018.Retrieved7 May2018.
  19. ^"Japan Blog - Tokyo Osaka Nagoya Kyoto: Chiune Sugihara Memorial Museum".japanvisitor.blogspot.jp.Archivedfrom the original on 7 November 2017.Retrieved7 May2018.
  20. ^(ja)
  21. ^(ja)
  22. ^ja: Thạch giác hoàn nhĩ
  23. ^ja:サリー・ワイル
  24. ^(ja)
  25. ^"POLLAK, A. M., RITTER VON RUDIN".Archived fromthe originalon 2018-01-29.Retrieved2018-01-28.
  26. ^"Pollak von Rudin, Adolf".Archivedfrom the original on 2018-01-29.Retrieved2018-01-28.
  27. ^"Remembering Walter Rudin (1921–2010)"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on 2015-03-01.Retrieved2015-02-22.
  28. ^Robert Whymant,Stalin's Spy: Richard Sorge and the Tokyo Espionage Ring,I.B.Tauris, 1996ISBN1860640443
  29. ^(ja)
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