Anti-Japanese sentiment

In the United States, anti-Japanese sentiment had its beginnings well before the Second World War. As early as the late 19th century, Asian immigrants were subject to racial prejudice in the United States. Laws were passed that openly discriminated against Asians, and sometimes Japanese in particular. Many of these laws stated that Asians could not become citizens of the United States and could not hold basic rights, such as owning land. These laws were greatly detrimental to the newly arrived immigrants, since many of them were farmers and had little choice but to become migrant workers. Some cite the formation of the Asiatic Exclusion League as the start of the anti-Japanese movement in California.[12]

Young China Club warning to American visitors against buying Japanese goods in San Francisco's Chinatown c. 1940

Anti-Japanese racism and Yellow Peril in California had intensified after the Japanese victory over the Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War. On 11 October 1906, the San Francisco, California Board of Education had passed a regulation whereby children of Japanese descent would be required to attend racially segregated separate schools. At the time, Japanese immigrants made up approximately 1% of the population of California; many of them had come under the treaty in 1894 which had assured free immigration from Japan.

The invasion of China in 1931 and the conquest of Manchuria was roundly criticized in the US. In addition, efforts by citizens outraged at Japanese atrocities, such as the Nanking Massacre, led to calls for American economic intervention to encourage Japan to leave China; these calls played a role in shaping American foreign policy. As more and more unfavorable reports of Japanese actions came to the attention of the American government, embargoes on oil and other supplies were placed on Japan, out of concern for the Chinese populace and for American interests in the Pacific. Furthermore, the European American population became very pro-China and anti-Japan, an example being a grass-roots campaign for women to stop buying silk stockings, because the material was procured from Japan through its colonies.

When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, Western public opinion was decidedly pro-China, with eyewitness reports by Western journalists on atrocities committed against Chinese civilians further strengthening anti-Japanese sentiments. African American sentiments could be quite different than the mainstream, with organizations like the Pacific Movement of the Eastern World (PMEW) which promised equality and land distribution under Japanese rule. The PMEW had thousands of members hopefully preparing for liberation from white supremacy with the arrival of the Japanese Imperial Army.

An American propaganda poster - "Death-trap for the Jap."

A Japanese American unfurled this banner the day after the Pearl Harbor attack. The man was later detained nonetheless. This Dorothea Lange photograph was taken in March 1942, just prior to the Japanese American internment.

The most profound cause of anti-Japanese sentiment outside of Asia had its beginning in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese attack propelled the United States into World War II. The Americans were unified by the attack to fight against the Empire of Japan and its allies, the German Reich and the Kingdom of Italy.

The surprise attack at Pearl Harbor prior to a declaration of war was commonly regarded as an act of treachery and cowardice. Following the attack many non-governmental "Jap hunting licenses" were circulated around the country. Life magazine published an article on how to tell a Japanese from a Chinese person by the shape of the nose and the stature of the body.[13] Japanese conduct during the war did little to quell anti-Japanese sentiment. Fanning the flames of outrage were the treatment of American and other prisoners of war (POWs). Military-related outrages included the murder of POWs, the use of POWs as slave labor for Japanese industries, the Bataan Death March, the kamikaze attacks on Allied ships, and atrocities committed on Wake Island and elsewhere.

U.S. historian James J. Weingartner attributes the very low number of Japanese in U.S. POW compounds to two key factors: a Japanese reluctance to surrender and a widespread American "conviction that the Japanese were 'animals' or 'subhuman' and unworthy of the normal treatment accorded to POWs."[14] The latter reasoning is supported by Niall Ferguson, who says that "Allied troops often saw the Japanese in the same way that Germans regarded Russians [sic] — as Untermenschen."[15] Weingartner believes this explains the fact that a mere 604 Japanese captives were alive in Allied POW camps by October 1944.[16] Ulrich Straus, a U.S. Japanologist, believes that front line troops intensely hated Japanese military personnel and were "not easily persuaded" to take or protect prisoners, as they believed that Allied personnel who surrendered, got "no mercy" from the Japanese.[17] Allied soldiers believed that Japanese soldiers were inclined to feign surrender, in order to make surprise attacks.[17] Therefore, according to Straus, "[s]enior officers opposed the taking of prisoners[,] on the grounds that it needlessly exposed American troops to risks ..."[17]

An American propaganda poster from World War II produced under the Works Progress Administration.

An estimated 112,000 to 120,000 Japanese migrants and Japanese Americans from the West Coast were interned regardless of their attitude to the US or Japan. They were held for the duration of the war in the inner US. The large Japanese population of Hawaii was not massively relocated in spite of their proximity to vital military areas.

A 1944 opinion poll found that 13% of the U.S. public were in favor of the genocide of all Japanese.[18][19] Daniel Goldhagen wrote in his book "So it is no surprise that Americans perpetrated and supported mass slaughters - Tokyo's firebombing and then nuclear incinerations - in the name of saving American lives, and of giving the Japanese what they richly deserved."[20]

Weingartner argues that there is a common cause between the mutilation of Japanese war dead and the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[21] According to Weingartner both were partially the result of a dehumanization of the enemy, saying, "[T]he widespread image of the Japanese as sub-human constituted an emotional context which provided another justification for decisions which resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands."[22] On the second day after the Nagasaki bomb, Truman stated: "The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them. When you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him like a beast. It is most regrettable but nevertheless true." [16][23]

In the 1970s and 1980s, the waning fortunes of heavy industry in the United States prompted layoffs and hiring slowdowns just as counterpart businesses in Japan were making major inroads into U.S. markets. Nowhere was this more visible than in the automobile industry, where the lethargic Big Three (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) watched as their former customers bought Japanese imports from Honda, Subaru, Mazda, and Nissan, a consequence of the 1973 and 1979 energy crisis. (When Japanese automakers were establishing their inroads into the USA and Canada. Isuzu, Mazda, and Mitsubishi had joint partnerships with a Big Three manufacturer (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) where its products were sold as captives). The anti-Japanese sentiment manifested itself in occasional public destruction of Japanese cars, and in the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin, a Chinese American beaten to death when he was mistaken to be Japanese.

Other highly symbolic deals — including the sale of famous American commercial and cultural symbols such as Columbia Records, Columbia Pictures, 7-Eleven, and the Rockefeller Center building to Japanese firms — further fanned anti-Japanese sentiment.

Popular culture of the period reflected American's growing distrust of Japan. Futuristic period pieces such as Back to the Future Part II and RoboCop 3 frequently showed Americans as working precariously under Japanese superiors. The film Blade Runner showed a futuristic Los Angeles clearly under Japanese domination (with a Japanese majority population and culture), perhaps a reference to the alternate world presented in The Man in the High Castle written by Philip K. Dick, the same author on which the film was based, in which Japan had won World War II. Criticism was also lobbied in many novels of the day. Author Michael Crichton wrote Rising Sun, a murder mystery (later made into a feature film) involving Japanese businessmen in the U.S. Likewise, in Tom Clancy's book, Debt of Honor, Clancy implies that Japan's prosperity is due primarily to unequal trading terms, and portrays Japan's business leaders acting in a power hungry cabal.

As argued by Marie Thorsten, however, Japanophobia mixed with Japanophilia during Japan's peak moments of economic dominance during the 1980s. The fear of Japan became a rallying point for techno-nationalism, the imperative to be first in the world in mathematics, science and other quantifiable measures of national strength necessary to boost technological and economic supremacy. Notorious "Japan-bashing" took place alongside the image of Japan as superhuman, mimicking in some ways the image of the Soviet Union after it launched the first Sputnik satellite in 1957: both events turned the spotlight on American education. American bureaucrats purposely pushed this analogy. In 1982, Ernest Boyer, a former U.S. Commissioner of Education, publicly declared that, "What we need is another Sputnik" to re-boot American education, and that "maybe what we should do is get the Japanese to put a Toyota into orbit."[24] Japan was both a threat and a model for human resource development in education and the workforce, merging with the image of Asian-Americans as the "model minority."

Both the animosity and super-humanizing which peaked in the 1980s, when the term "Japan bashing" became popular, had largely faded by the late 1990s. Japan's waning economic fortunes in the 1990s, known today as the Lost Decade, coupled with an upsurge in the U.S. economy as the Internet took off largely crowded anti-Japanese sentiment out of the popular media.

Poster outside of a restaurant in Guangzhou, China

Anti-Japanese sentiment is felt very strongly in China and distrust, hostility and negative feelings towards Japan, Japanese people and culture is widespread in China. Anti-Japanese sentiment is a phenomenon that mostly dates back to modern times (post-1868). During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan negotiated treaties that often resulted in the annexation of land from China towards the end of the Qing Dynasty. Dissatisfaction with Japanese settlements and the Twenty-One Demands by the Japanese government led to a serious boycott of Japanese products in China.

Today, bitterness in China persists[25] over the atrocities of the Second Sino-Japanese War and Japan's post-war actions, particularly the perceived lack of a straightforward acknowledgment of such atrocities, Japanese government employment of known past war criminals, and Japanese historic revisionism in textbooks. From elementary school, children are taught about Japanese war crimes in detail, for example, thousands of children are brought to the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing by their elementary schools to view photos of war atrocities, such as exhibits of records of Japanese military forcing Chinese workers into wartime labour,[26] the Nanking Massacre,[27] and the issues of comfort women. After viewing the museum, the children's hatred of the Japanese people was reported to increase significantly. Despite the time that has passed since the end of the Second World War, discussions about the Japanese conduct can still evoke powerful emotions today, in part because most Japanese are aware of what happened but their society has never engaged in the type of introspection common in Germany after the Holocaust.[28] Hence, the usage of Japanese military symbols are still controversial in China, such as the incident of Chinese pop singer Zhao Wei seen wearing a Japanese War Flag dress for a fashion magazine photo shoot in 2001.[29] Huge responses were seen on the Internet; a public letter from a Nanking Massacre survivor was sent demanding a public apology, and the singer was even attacked.[30] According to a 2017 BBC World Service Poll, only 22% of Chinese people view Japan's influence positively, with 75% expressing a negative view, making China the most anti-Japanese nation in the world.[2]

Anti-Japanese sentiment can be seen in anti-Japanese war films currently produced and displayed in mainland China. More than 200 anti-Japanese films were made in China in 2012 alone.[31] In one particular situation involving a more moderate anti-Japanese war film, the government of China banned the 2000 film, Devils on the Doorstep, because it depicted a Japanese soldier being friendly with Chinese villagers.[32]

The issue of anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea is complex and multi-faceted. Anti-Japanese attitudes in the Korean Peninsula can be traced as far back as the Japanese pirate raids and Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), but are largely a product of the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910–1945, and subsequent revisionism in history textbooks used in Japan's educational system after World War II.

Today, issues of Japanese history textbook controversies, Japanese policy regarding World War II, and geographic disputes between the two countries perpetuate this sentiment, and these issues often incur huge disputes between Japanese and South Korean Internet users.[33] South Korea, together with mainland China, may be considered as among the most intensely anti-Japanese societies in the world.[34] Among all the countries which participated in BBC World Service Poll in 2007 and 2009, South Korea and People's Republic of China were the only ones whose majorities rated Japan negatively.[35][36]

Demonstrators in Taiwan host signs telling "Japanese devils" to "get out" of the Senkaku Islands following an escalation in disputes in 2012.

During the 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations in East Asia, Taiwan remained noticeably quieter than the PRC or Korea, with Taiwan-Japan relations regarded at an all-time high. The KMT majority-takeover in 2008 followed by a boating accident resulting in Taiwanese deaths has created recent tensions, however. Taiwanese officials began speaking out on historical territory disputes regarding the Diaoyutai/Senkaku Islands, resulting in an increase in at least perceived anti-Japanese sentiment.[37]

A propaganda newspaper clipping that refers to the Bataan Death March in 1942, which was distributed and sparked outrage worldwide.

Anti-Japanese sentiment traces back to World War II and the aftermath of the war, where an estimated one million Filipinos, of a wartime population of 17 million, were killed during the war, and many more injured. Nearly every Filipino family was hurt by the war on some level. Most notably in the city of Mapanique, survivors recount the Japanese occupation with Filipino men being massacred and dozens of women being herded to be used as comfort women. Today, the Philippines is considered to have un-antagonistic relations with Japan. In addition, Filipinos are generally not as offended as Chinese or Koreans are about the claim from some quarters that these atrocities are given little, if any, attention in Japanese classrooms. It is the result of the huge Japanese aid sent to the country during the 1960s and the 1970s.[38]

Davao in Mindanao had a large population of Japanese immigrants who acted as a fifth column, welcoming the Japanese invaders during World War II. These Japanese were hated by the Moro Muslims and also hated by the Chinese.[39] The Moro juramentados performed suicide attacks against the Japanese, while the Moro juramentados did not ever attack the Chinese since the Chinese were not considered enemies of the Moro people while the Japanese were.[40][41][42][43]

In Australia, the White Australia policy was partly inspired by fears in the late 19th century that if large numbers of Asian immigrants were allowed, they would have a severe and adverse effect on wages, the earnings of small business people and other elements of the standard of living. Nevertheless, a significant numbers of Japanese immigrants did arrive in Australia prior to 1900 (perhaps most significantly in the town of Broome). By the late 1930s, Australians feared that Japanese military strength might lead to expansion in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, perhaps even an invasion of Australia itself. This resulted in a ban on iron ore exports to the Empire of Japan, from 1938. During World War II atrocities were frequently committed to Australians who surrendered (or attempted to surrender) to Japanese soldiers, most famously the ritual beheading of Leonard Siffleet, which was photographed, as well as incidents of cannibalism and the shooting down of ejected pilots' parachutes. Anti-Japanese feelings were particularly provoked by the sinking of the unarmed Hospital Ship Centaur (painted white and with Red Cross markings), with 268 dead. Treatment of Australians prisoners of war was also a factor, with over 2,800 Australian POWs dying on the Burma Railway alone.

In the Russian Empire, the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 halted Imperial Russia's ambitions in the East, leaving them humiliated. Later, during the Russian Civil War, Japan was part of the Allied interventionist forces that helped to occupy Vladivostok until October 1922 with a puppet White government under Grigorii Semenov. At the end of World War II, the Red Army accepted the surrender of nearly 600,000 Japanese POWs after Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan on 15 August. Of these, 473,000 were repatriated, with 55,000 having died in Soviet captivity and the fate of the rest being unknown. Presumably, many were deported to China or North Korea to serve as forced laborers and soldiers.[44]

Japan's public service broadcaster NHK, which provides a list of overseas safety risks for traveling, in early 2020 listed anti-Japanese discrimination as a safety risk when traveling to France and some other European countries, possibly as a result of fears over the COVID-19 pandemic among other factors.[45] Signs of rising anti-Japanese sentiment in France include an increase in anti-Japanese incidents reported by Japanese nationals, such as being mocked on the street and refused taxi service, and least one Japanese restaurant has been vandalized.[46][47][48] A group of Japanese students on a study tour in Paris received abuse by locals.[49]

In a press release, the embassy of Japan in Indonesia stated that incidents of discrimination and harassment toward Japanese people had increased, possibly related to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 among other factors, and announced they had set up a help center to assist Japanese residents dealing with these incidents.[50] In general, there have been reports of widespread anti-Japanese discrimination and harassment in the country, with hotels, stores, restaurants, taxi services and more refusing Japanese customers, and many Japanese people were no longer allowed in meetings and conferences. The embassy of Japan has also received at least a dozen reports of harassment toward Japanese people in just a few days.[51][52] According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan), anti-Japanese sentiment and discrimination has been rising in Indonesia.[53]

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan), anti-Japanese sentiment and discrimination has been rising in Germany.[53]

Media sources have reported a rise in anti-Japanese sentiment in Germany, with some Japanese residents saying suspicion and contempt toward them have increased noticeably.[54] In line with these sentiments, there have been a rising number of anti-Japanese incidents such as at least one major football club kicking out all Japanese fans from the stadium, locals throwing raw eggs at homes where Japanese people live, and a general increase in the level of harassment toward Japanese residents.[55][56][57]

In recent years, a certain anti-Japanese feeling has grown in Brazil. The current Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, was accused of making statements considered discriminatory against Japanese, generating repercussions in the press and in the Japanese-Brazilian community,[58] considered the largest in the world outside of Japan.[59] In addition, in 2020, possibly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of xenophobia and abuse were reported to Japanese-Brazilians in cities such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.[60][61][62]

• Especially prevalent during World War II, the word "Jap" or "Nip" (short for Nippon, Japanese for "Japan" or Nipponjin for “Japanese person”) has been used in the United States, Australia, and other English-speaking countries as a derogatory term for the Japanese. Tojo (referring to Hideki Tojo) is also a derogatory term dating from World War II, but has since died out.

• Riben guizi (Chinese: 日本鬼子; Cantonese: Yaatboon gwaizi; Mandarin: Rìběn guǐzi) – literally "Japanese devils" or "Japanese monsters". This is used mostly in the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War, when Japan invaded and occupied large areas of China. This is the title of a Japanese documentary on Japanese war crimes during WWII. Recently, some Japanese have taken the slur and reversed the negative connotations by transforming it into a cute female personification named Hinomoto Oniko, which is an alternate reading in Japanese.
• Wokou (Chinese: 倭寇; pinyin: wōkòu) – originally referred to Japanese pirates and armed sea merchants who raided the Chinese coastline during the Ming dynasty. The term was adopted during the Second Sino-Japanese War to refer to invading Japanese forces (similarly to Germans being called "Huns"). The word is today sometimes used to refer to all Japanese people in extremely negative contexts.
• Xiao Riben (Chinese: 小日本; pinyin: xiǎo Rìběn) – literally "puny Japan(ese)", or literally "little Japan(ese)". This term is very common (Google Search returns 21,000,000 results as of August 2007). The term can be used to refer to either Japan or individual Japanese people.
• Riben zai (Chinese: 日本仔; Cantonese: Yaatboon zai; Mandarin: Rìběn zǎi) – this is the most common term in use by Cantonese speaking Chinese, having similar meaning to the English word "Jap". The term literally translates to "Japan kid". This term has become so common that it has little impact and does not seem to be too derogatory compared to other words below.
• Wo (Chinese: 倭; pinyin: wō) – this was an ancient Chinese name for Japan, but was also adopted by the Japanese. Today, its usage in Mandarin is usually intended to give a negative connotation. The character is said to also mean "dwarf", although that meaning was not apparent when the name was first used. See Wa.
• Riben gou (Chinese: 日本狗; Cantonese: Yatboon gau; pinyin: Rìběn gǒu) – "Japanese dogs". The word is used to refer to all Japanese people in extremely negative contexts.
• Da jiaopen zu (Chinese: 大腳盆族; pinyin: dà jiǎopén zú) – "big foot-basin race". Ethnic slur towards Japanese used predominantly by Northern Chinese, mainly those from the city of Tianjin.
• Huang jun (Chinese: 黃軍; pinyin: huáng jūn) – "Yellow Army", a pun on "皇軍" (homophone huáng jūn, "Imperial Army"), used during World War II to represent Imperial Japanese soldiers due to the colour of the uniform. Today, it is used negatively against all Japanese. Since the stereotype of Japanese soldiers are commonly portrayed in war-related TV series in China as short men, with a toothbrush moustache (and sometimes round glasses, in the case of higher ranks), huang jun is also often used to pull jokes on Chinese people with these characteristics, and thus "appear like" Japanese soldiers. Also, since the colour of yellow is often associated with pornography in modern Chinese, it is also a mockery of the Japanese forcing women into prostitution during World War II.
• Zi wei dui (Chinese: 自慰隊; Cantonese: zi wai dui; pinyin: zì wèi duì) – a pun on the homophone "自衛隊" (same pronunciation, "self-defense forces", see Japan Self-Defense Forces), the definition of "慰" (Cantonese: wai; pinyin: wèi) used is "to comfort". This phrase is used to refer to Japanese (whose military force is known as "自衛隊") being stereotypically hypersexual, as "自慰隊" means "self-comforting forces", referring to masturbation.
• Ga zai / Ga mui (Chinese: 架仔 / 架妹; Cantonese: ga zai / ga mui) – used only by Cantonese speakers to call Japanese men / young girls. "架" (ga) came from the frequent use of simple vowels (-a in this case) in Japanese language. "仔" (jai) means "little boy(s)", with relations to the stereotype of short Japanese men. "妹" (mui) means "young girl(s)" (the speaker usually uses a lustful tone), with relations to the stereotype of disrespect to female in Japanese society. Sometimes, ga is used as an adjective to avoid using the proper word "Japanese".
• Law baak tau (Chinese: 蘿蔔頭; Cantonese: law baak tau; pinyin: luo bo tou) – "daikon head". Commonly used by the older people in the Cantonese-speaking world to call Japanese men.

• Jjokbari (Korean: 쪽발이) – translates as "a person with cloven hoof-like feet".[64] This term is the most frequently used and strongest ethnic slur used by Koreans to refer to Japanese. Refers to the traditional Japanese footwears of geta or tabi, both of which feature a gap between the thumb toe and the other four toes. The term compares Japanese to pigs. The term is also used by ethnic Koreans in Japan.[65]
• Seom-nara won-sung-i (Korean: 섬나라 원숭이) - literally "island country monkey", more often translated as simply "island monkey". Common derogatory term comparing Japanese to the Japanese macaque native to Japan.
• Wae-in (Korean: 왜인; Hanja: 倭人) – translates as "small Japanese person", although used with strong derogatory connotations. The term refers to the ancient name of Yamato Japan, Wae, on the basis of the stereotype that Japanese people were small (see Wa).
• Wae-nom (Korean: 왜놈; Hanja: 倭놈) – translates as "small Japanese bastard". It is used more frequently by older Korean generations, derived from the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598).
• Wae-gu (Korean: 왜구; Hanja: 倭寇) – originally referred to Japanese pirates, who frequently invaded Korea. The word is today used to refer to all Japanese people in an extremely negative context.

• Corona - There have been strong indications that the word "corona" has become a relatively common slur toward Japanese people in several Arabic-speaking countries, with the Japanese embassy in Egypt acknowledging that "corona" had become one of the most common slurs at least in that country,[66] as well as incidents against Japanese aid workers in Palestine involving the slur.[67] In Jordan, Japanese people were chased by locals yelling "corona".[68] Outside of the Arabic-speaking world, France has also emerged as a notable country where use of the new slur toward Japanese has become common, with targets of the slur ranging from Japanese study tours to Japanese restaurants and Japanese actresses working for French companies such as Louis Vuitton.[66][69][70]