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History of the Jews in Japan

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History of the Jews in Japan
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The history of the Jews in Japan reaches back at least to the 16th Century, although theories suspect much earlier possibly 8th Century.

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The location of Japan in Asia.
Quick Facts 日本のユダヤ人יהודים יפנים‎, Total population ...
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Early settlements

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It is theorised that the earliest Jews to arrive and settle in Japan, came from Tang Dynasty China in the 7th or 8th Century, where a community existed. This community is thought to have assimilated over time, although Jewish symbolism, depictions, biblical stories and practices (thought to have Jewish origin), survive and exist within a small area.

The earliest Jewish visitors of European origin, arrived in Japan with the Portuguese around 1543. These included Jewish seamen displaced to Spanish controlled Naples and Jews converted to Catholicism during the 1492 Spanish expulsion. Later some remained in the trading post on Dejima. In 1587, some of these settlers were displaced further into Japan, at least one known Jewish merchant arrived into the Yodo river in Kinki Province, where a Christian presence already existed.

Recent Jewish settlers were located in Yokohama. By 1895, this community had about fifty families, and dedicated the first synagogue in the country. Jews also settled in Nagasaki during the 1880s, which, as a significant port town, was more accessible to Jews fleeing Russian pogroms.[1]

Although the Jewish community in Nagasaki was much larger than the one in Yokohama, the effects of the Russo-Japanese War resulted in them largely disintegrating and passing on their Torah scroll to the Jewish community in Kobe. Until 1923, the Jewish community in Yokohama became the largest, however after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, many relocated to Kobe, resulting in the Kobe Jewish community growing significantly.[1]

The Jewish community in Kobe in the early to mid 1900s consisted mainly of Russian, German, and Baghdadi Jews from what is currently Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and other places in Central Asia and the Middle East. Jewish people from Central and Eastern Europe came to Japan for economic reasons, and in the 1930s, the developments in the continent.[1]

The Jewish community in Tokyo was small until after World War II, during the American occupation of Japan and afterwards.[1] The Jewish community in Nagasaki ended in 1945.

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World War II

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Antisemitism in Japan rose after World War I, in part due to the reaction to the October Revolution in Russia. Despite this, the Japanese government cooperated with Jewish communities in aiding Jewish refugees of Russia after this revolution.[1] In the 1930s, antisemitism became more prevalent, due to pacts signed with Germany in 1936 and 1940, as well as propaganda campaigns to turn the Japanese public against the "Jewish peril."[2]

Attitudes towards Jewish people were not uniform among individual diplomats and politicians, with many attempting to combat antisemitism, and stating that Japan owed Jewish people due to their participation in the Russo-Japanese War.[2]

Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara issued transit visas to Polish and Jewish refugees. While the exact number of visas issued is unknown, it is estimated that he helped five thousand to six thousand Jews escape via Japan.[3]

During World War II, Japanese policy towards Jewish people was that those holding citizenship of a country would be afforded the same treatment as those from that country, and Jewish people designated as stateless — typically German and Polish Jews who had their citizenship revoked — were placed under surveillance due to their racial characteristics, similarly to their treatment of Russians.[2]

While there were individual incidents of harassment and some Jews were held in detention camps in Japan occupied Malaya, throughout the duration of the war, Jewish people as a whole were treated no worse than citizens of neutral countries. One exception was the request for French Indochina to institute similar restrictions of Jews to citizens of neutral countries with anti-Axis views.[2]

The main problem facing Jewish people in Japan and Japan occupied territories, such as Shanghai, was the shortage of supplies and money for refugees.[2]

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View of Beth Israel Synagogue in NagasakiPo
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Post-war

After the war, the majority of Jews in Japan were American service men stationed in Japan as part of the occupation. In 1951 the Jewish Community Center was started as a social club by Russian Jewish emigres. [4]

Rabbis

Tokyo Jewish Community

  • Rabbi Herman Dicker, 1955–1959, Orthodox
  • Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, 1968–1976, Orthodox
  • Rabbi Jonathan Z. Maltzman, 1980–1983, Conservative
  • Rabbi Michael Schudrich, 1983–1989 Orthodox
  • Rabbi Moshe Silberschein, 1989–1992, Conservative
  • Rabbi Jim Lebeau, 1993–1997, Conservative
  • Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose, 1998–1999, Conservative
  • Rabbi Elliot Marmon, 1999–2002, Conservative
  • Rabbi Henri Noach, 2002–2008, Conservative
  • Rabbi Rachel Smookler, Reform, interim-rabbi
  • Rabbi Antonio Di Gesù, 2009–2013, Conservative
  • Rabbi David Kunin, 2013–2022, Conservative
  • Rabbi Andrew Scheer, 2022–Present, Orthodox

Chabad

  • Rabbi Mendi Sudakevich
  • Rabbi Yehezkel Binyomin Edery

Jewish Community of Kobe

  • Rabbi Gaoni Maatuf, 1998–2002
  • Rabbi Asaf Tobi, 2002–2006
  • Rabbi Yerachmiel Strausberg, 2006–2008
  • Hagay Blumenthal, 2008–2009, lay leader
  • Daniel Moskovich, 2009–2010, lay leader
  • Rabbi David Gingold, 2010–2013
  • Rabbi Shmuel Vishedsky, 2014–present

Jewish Community of Okinawa

  • Rabbi Yonatan Warren, 2011–2014
  • Rabbi Yonina Creditor, 2013–2016
  • Rabbi David Bauman, 2016–2017
  • Rabbi Yonatan Greenberg, 2018–present
  • Rabbi Levy Pekar, 2019–present
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List of notable Jews in Japan

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

People of Jewish descent

Refugees, short expatriates

Ambassadors

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Films

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

See also

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References

External links

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