"Antisemitism in Japan"

Hi, colleagues,
<...>

My name is Akiyoshi Miyake, and am an associate professor of English
Department at Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan. My research field is
Modernism, especially Ezra Pound and T.S.Eliot. I am also interested in
Fascism, Italian, German, and American. I am writing a book on Huey Long
(1893-1935) as one of my American Fascism series. also have a project to
write a book on Ezra Pound(1885-1972), a great Modernist/Medievalist
poet but a idiotic Mussolini admirer and truculent Anti-semite.

<...>

So much for my own story; now let me talk about how Jews are seen
generally in Japan. There are a few Jewish people in Japan in comparison
with in European countries and the United States. Ordinary Japanese
people cannot tell Jews from other peoples by name nor by physical
appearance. No Jewish people are refused an apartment room for rent
because of their race or religion (some Japanese are anti-Chinese, or
anti-Korean, and they *do* refuse Chinese and Korean scholarship students).
But some big bookstores have a corner of *Jewish Problem*, and there are
selling well many Anti-semitic paperbacks at low prices on the shelves.
They are generally of triviality, I mean not deserving serious consideration.
Let me take examples. A book finds similarities between Jews and
Japanese where there is none. And it warns readers that they(=Japanese)
should take care of not falling into a lonely position in the international
scene as Jews were, are, and will be discriminated from others in....crazy
book! Another asserts that the world politics and economy are controlled
by the rich Jews in Wall Street behind the pretended administration in
Washington. They are putting successfully into practice the lessons
of *Protocols of Zion*(!). Newspapers never tell the truth. Their owners
or chief sponsors are also Jews, indeed they are identical or cooperative
with the world conquest projectors.....extra-terrestrial crazy book! It
is a patchwork of shallowly retold tales of Nesta Webster and other
conspiracy theories.

Certainly, they are selling well. But I do not think they have so
powerful an influence on the Japanese readers as they seem to. Most of
the readers are office workers, who read them as if cheap spy novels or
space war fiction on the jammed train on the way and way back between
their home and office. Few take them to their home, the trash box in the
station waits for them. Those books are amusing books to them, just like
a kind of "kill-time" fiction, and never an enlightening book.

It is a mistake, however, that no readers believe in them. Indeed they
believe that a certain type of books are trustworthy, or at least
include some truth, The type is that of books which says that the Holocaust
is a lie. One main reason for that is the same as in other countries.
The Holocaust is an extraordinary event in history in the sense that it was
an event not only one of the parties involved tried to eradicate the
other party forever but also the one tried to erase the traces of the
event itself. And another reason is that we are living in islands far
from the European Continent. These obscure us from realizing what really
happened in Mid Europe in the 1940s. It is extremely difficult for us
Japanese except experts in Modern history to make sure of its actuality by
tangible evidence. So, for example, when the revisionists tell the
Japanese readers that no document has been discovered in which Hitler
commanded his men to annihilate a whole race of Jews, they are likely to
be easily convinced of their grotesque conclusion being the truth, or to
think at least that it is worth reconsideration. And annoyingly,
educated and intellectual readers are more likely to be deceived by them.
Educated people think highly of democratic attitudes, and democratic
attitudes are ones which are not intolerant to the opinions of minority
unless they are too flippantly anti-democratic. Revisionists hide their
anti-semitism from readers with such a sophisticated dexterity that they come
to feel it natural as a democrat to be tolerant towards their
pseudo-scientific discussion.

1995 was a sensational year in the history of Anti-semitism in Japan. An
article titled *There was no NAZI gas room* appeared in a rising weekly
magazine published by one of the greatest publishing companies in Japan.
It caused a big controversy among intellectuals and ordinary people.
some praised it as a challenge against the greatest taboo after the last
World War, while others charged it as a shameless article which tramples
the sacrifices of 6,000,000 Jewish people. The dispute turned into a
more complicated one, involving the problems of the freedom of speech
and the press, after the publisher discontinued the magazine under the
pressure of Simon Wiesenthal Center, who announced to the world that they
boycott whatever goods or products were advertized in the publications of
the publisher. The article itself was a junk. But revisionists took
advantage of the sensation by publishing their books in flood. They
marched in parallel with another shameless deception that the Nan-Chin 
(Nanking) Genocide by the Japanese armies is a lie. At my University, as a
result, one of my colleagues was deceived into siding with the revisionism,
while a visiting lecturer (who was an expert of Japanese theater, but
not of history) gave students in his class a revisionist lecture over
the two genocides mentioned above.

The same year was also a symbolic one in the history of the movement against
Anti-semitism in Japan. *Shoah* by Claude Lanzmann was showed for the
first time in Japan. It also caused sensation among intellectuals and
ordinary people. The film made a long tour from one Univ. theater to
another through my country. Lanzmann came to Japan and gave lectures over
the film many a time. NHKTV showed it on its BS channel and again on its
educational one. The script was successfully translated into Japanese,
and the book was one of the best selling books of the year.
Several leading monthly literary magazines published the special issue
over the film. Related books were also translated. Shoshana Felman's *The
Return of the Voice:Claude Lanzmann's Shoah* was one of them. *Denying the
Holocaust: by Deborah Listadt was another. *Auschwitz und "Auschwitz-
Liege"* by Till Bastian, and *Les Assassins de la Memoir* by Pierre
Vidal-Naquet were also among them. Revived attention was directed to
Hannah Arendt, whose writings we had read in Japanese. Several books
which appeared in the year covered the revisionism dispute in Germany.
I believe that this movement has eventually overcome the revisionist
chattings.Those who were bellowing against the truth are now silent.
(Nanking Problem is another; revisionism on Japanese-Chinese History is
rampant among Japanese Historians who are planing to beat the truth off
the highschool textbooks in cooperation with rightist Japanese
politicians.)

Lastly, I am looking forward to your opinions and comments on this mail.
I have a good opportunity to inform of this forum to my friends.
A meeting of Fascism Research Society in Japan will be held on June 14,
and I am its member and will be one of the panelists in a symposium,
the literal translation of whose title is "Memories which Cross the
Frontiers".

And really lastly, I apologize to you if I have happened, against my
real intention, to use improper or discriminatory terminology. please be
tolerant and patient to me. I am not so good at writing in English.
Thank you for the patience with which you read this long posting.
Sincerely,

Aki


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 akiyoshi miyake
 aki-myk@mail.raidway.or.jp

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hello, colleagues,

Bob wrote(4/21 '97):
>Do you feel that any of the antisemitism in Japan results from the presence
>of Christians there, some of whom unintentionally (?) spread anti-Jewish
>feelings to their converts because of the ancient decide charge?

My answer:in a sense yes, in another no. Maybe some Japanese people
became anti-semitic or had an ill feeling against Jews as a result of
their contact with Christian people. But few of such people are anti-semitic
activists. Let me emphasize again that there are a few Jewish people in
Japan, and that ordinary Japanese people can not tell them from other
white people. Japanese people are generally friendly with Jewish
persons. How can they be otherwise? Jews living around them in Japan are
friendly, gentle, witty, and respectful. Moreover, let me point out that
Japanese Society is tolerant to religion, even to a person of no
religion (Most Japanese are nominal Buddhist. Really faithful people are
quite a minor in number). Jewish faith is no hindrance to them in order
to lead a peaceful life.

But as to Christian Japanese, I have another story. I have a friend who
is a Christian of a fundamentalist sect. He is gentle, and a man of
composure. But he sometimes  passes anti-semitic remarks on American and
world politics and economy:i.e. conspiracy theory. He had lived in one
of Southern States in America for a long time, and served as minister
there. I know it is likely to be misleading to generalize his  as a
typical case in Japanese anti-semitism. But I think we can infer from
that, at least, too rigorous Christianity can be a basis, theoretically
and actually,(sometimes a main one, sometimes _background_ would be more
precise) on which Japanese people entertain an anti-semitic notions, just as
other people do. Maybe Suzanna Hicks (4/22 1997) disagrees with me.
But my emphasis is on _too rigorous_ while even too rigorous Buddhists
are not anti-semitic.

Let me talk about Japanese activist anti-semites. They are probably
contacting with colleagues in other countries. In this sense you can
call them international. But they are basically ultra-nationalistic. They
are identical or cooperative with nationalists who are trying to force
people to worship Tennoh (Japanese Emperor). They are certainly anti-
semitic, but they are also anti-Russian, anti-North Korean, anti-Chinese,
anti-Communist. Their real intention is not to raise anti-semitic feelings
in Japan but to create social unrests so that Japanese people might bind
themselves together once again as an adamant nationalistic racial
union. But so far, their trials have been not successful. One reason is
that Japan is too stable a society for them to persuade ordinary people.
It is a gunless society. Unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the
world. Japanese people think, erroneously or not, that they are living a
life of high standard. They are generally contented with everyday life of
their own. Another reason for the activist's failure is their...their...
physical appearance. Their attire is weirdly belligerent, and they make
intentionally a violently offensive face. Threatening or showing off
their physical power to intimidate people is their traditional method.
It is clearly not an effective one, but they are sticking to it. I do
not know why. Anyway ordinary Japanese people look upon them as a kindred
of Japanese mafias(yakuza). Ordinary people hold abhorrence in them, but
at the same time they are curious about the men of the seamy side of the
world. So, many office workers are burying themselves in the topics on
mafias on the tabloid newspapers and buying anti-semitic books of
conspiracy theories on the train, while they know that the articles are
dubious, and so the book are.

I think Japanese society is not an anti-semitic society as a whole. On
this point, I agree with Prof. Richard Steigmann-Gall's argument (4/23
1997). And I disagree with Prof. Hicks (4/22 1997). Certainly Japan is
not a Christian nation. but some Japanese mild anti-semitic people (they
are considerably few) are anti-semitic at least partly on the basis of
Christian background.

I think the real problem in Japan is basic complexes peculiar to Japanese
people from which all racial hatred rises:an inferior complex to white
people and a superior complex to the others(and these are face and back
of the same coin). Now in Japan, anti-Korean and anti-Iranian feelings
are rampant among ordinary people. Some people are violent against
highschool Korean girls who lives in Japan. As to Iranians, they came to
Japan floodingly for work during the previous babble economy in Japan.
And construction companies employed them because they worked with far
less money than Japanese workers. Now Japan is in a mild depression. and
many Iranians are out of job. Japanese people often see them rambling
aimlessly in the parks or around the railroad stations. They can speak
Japanese little. They do not know what they are thinking. Thus, fear
against Iranian people are rising among Japanese. You will understand
the situations around Koreans and Iranians in Japan is utterly different
>from that on Jews in Japan. We can tell Korean from Japanese and Chinese
people by name, and can tell Iranian  from other peoples, while they
regard Jewish persons simply as whites. Moreover, as I have said,
Japanese people are entertaining a strong inferior complex to white
people. I think this is another reason why I think anti-semitic
agitations are not so popular in Japan.

Let me talk about another story. It is a story about an ex-colleague of
mine. He taught me some years ago what Nazis did against Jews in the war
time. I thank him. But he was always talking about that topic with
sadistically glaring eyes, I can see his eyes even now. He did not look
like a man who was sympathetic with the victims but rather a man who was
doing violence against Jews. Of course his intention was not anti-semitic,
but sometimes it seems true that persons who are enlightening over others
on the problem can be anti-semitic against their intention or unconsciously.
Or is it a type of antisemitism peculiar to Japan?
Thank you very much.
Sincerely

Aki


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 akiyoshi miyake
 aki-myk@mail.raidway.or.jp

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^