The history of the Jews in Japan reaches back to the early 1700s.

Early settlements

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

travelers entered

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

as early as the 1700s, however no permanent settlements were established until after Commodore

Matthew C. Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. He led the Perry Expedition that Bakumatsu, ended Japan' ...

's arrival in 1853. Early Jewish settlers were located in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

. By 1895, this community had about fifty families, and dedicated the first synagogue in the country. Jews also settled in

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

during the 1880s, which, as a significant port town, was more accessible to Jews fleeing Russian pogroms. Although the Jewish community in Nagasaki was much larger than the one in Yokohama, the effects of the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

resulted in them largely disintegrating and passing on their

Torah scroll A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Interior, Tora Cases.jpg">Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India ...

to the Jewish community in

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

. Until 1923, the Jewish community in Yokohama became the largest, however after the

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (, or ) was a major earthquake that struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshu at 11:58:32 JST (02:58:32 UTC) on Saturday, 1 September 1923. It had an approximate magnitude of 8.0 on the mom ...

, many relocated to Kobe, resulting in the Kobe Jewish community growing significantly. The Jewish community in Kobe in the early to mid 1900s consisted mainly of

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, and

Baghdadi Jews Baghdadi Jews (; ) or Iraqi Jews are historic terms for the former communities of Jewish migrants and their descendants from Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East. They settled primarily in the ports and along the trade routes around the In ...

from what is currently

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, and other places in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. Jewish people from Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

came to Japan for economic reasons, and in the 1930s, the developments in the continent. The Jewish community in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

was small until after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, during the American

occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II from the surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, at the war's end until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect on April 28, 1952. The occupation, led by the ...

and afterwards.

World War II

Antisemitism in Japan rose after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, in part due to the reaction to the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

in Russia. Despite this, the Japanese government cooperated with Jewish communities in aiding Jewish refugees of Russia after this revolution. In the 1930s, antisemitism became more prevalent, due to pacts signed with

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

and

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

, as well as propaganda campaigns to turn the Japanese public against the "Jewish peril." 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. Japanese diplomat

Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat who served as vice-consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania. During the Second World War, Sugihara helped thousands of Jews flee Europe by issuing transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japan ...

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

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.

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 **Jim Lebeau is the brother of Rabbi William Lebeau, former Dean of the Rabbinical School at the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism as well as a hub for academic scholarship in Jewish studies ...

. * 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

List of notable Jews in Japan

* Abraham Kaufman * Alan Terence Kawarai Lefor, MD MPH PhD DrEng FACS, Professor of Surgery, professor emeritus of Jichi Medical University *

Alan Merrill Alan Merrill (born Allan Preston Sachs; February 19, 1951 – March 29, 2020) was an American vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. In the early 1970s, he was one of the few resident foreigners in Japan to achieve pop star status there. He wrote t ...

Albert Mosse Isaac Albert Mosse (1 October 1846 – 31 May 1925) was a German judge and legal scholar. Mosse's importance lies in his work on Japan's Meiji Constitution and his continuation of Litthauer's Comments on the German Commercial Code. Biography M ...

Alfred Birnbaum Alfred Birnbaum (born 1955)Our Authors: Alfred Birnbaum
Disney Hyperion, Hyper ...

* Arie Selinger * Ayako Fujitani, writer and actress *

Avi Schafer is a Japanese professional basketball player for SeaHorses Mikawa of the B.League. He played college basketball for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Schafer has been a member of the Japan national basketball team. Early life Schafer was ...

Barak Kushner Barak Kushner (born 7 April 1968) is an American historian, orientalist, and translator. He is a Professor of East Asian History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He has written and edited numerous book ...

Beate Sirota Gordon Beate Sirota Gordon (; October 25, 1923 – December 30, 2012) was an Austrian and American performing arts presenter and women's rights advocate. Born in Vienna, Austria, she moved to the Empire of Japan in 1929 with her father, the pianist ...

, former Performing Arts Director of Japan Society and

Asia Society The Asia Society is a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle) and around the world (Hong Ko ...

* Ben-Ami Shillony, Israeli Japanologist * Chaim Janowski * Charles Louis Kades * Dan Calichman * David G. Goodman, Japanologist * Emil Orlík * Emmanuel Metter * Fumiko Kometani, author and artist *

Heinrich Bürger Heinrich Bürger (or: Heinrich Burger) (Hamelin, 29 February 1804, or 7 November 1804, or 20 January 1806 – Indramayu (Java) 25 March 1858) was a German physicist, biologist and botanist employed by the Dutch government, and an entrepreneur ...

* Henryk Lipszyc *

Hoshitango Imachi is an Argentine-born Japanese former professional sumo wrestler and professional wrestler. His highest rank was ''jūryō'' 3. Life and career A former swimming instructor, Salomón was spotted by a visiting Japanese coach at a gym in Buenos A ...

, né Imachi Marcelo Salomon * Jack Halpern, Israeli linguist, Kanji-scholar * Janos Cegledy, pianist, composer and Holocaust lecturer *

Jay Rubin Jay Rubin (born 1941) is an American translator, writer, scholar and Japanologist. He is one of the main translators of the works of the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami into English. He has also written a guide to Japanese, ''Making Sense of Jap ...

John Nathan John Weil Nathan (born March 1940) is an American translator, writer, scholar, filmmaker, and Japanologist. His translations from Japanese into English include the works of Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburō Ōe, Kōbō Abe, and Natsume Sōseki. Nathan is ...

* Joseph Rosenstock, conductor of the

NHK Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese broadcast orchestra based in Tokyo. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues, including the NHK Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. History The orchestra was founded as the ''New Symphony Orchestr ...

* Julie Dreyfus * Karl Taro Greenfeld, journalist and author * Klaus Pringsheim Sr. * Kurt Singer * Leonid Kreutzer, pianist * Leo Sirota * Ludwig Riess * Manfred Gurlitt * Martin "Marty" Adam Friedman, rock guitarist *

Max Janowski Max Janowski (1912 – April 8, 1991) was a composer of Jewish liturgical music, a conductor, choir director, and voice teacher. Born in Berlin into a musical family, Max was the son of Chayim Janowski, a choir director, and Miriam, an opera sing ...

Michael Kogan Michael "Misha" Kogan (January 1, 1920 – February 5, 1984) was a Ukrainian entrepreneur who founded the Japanese video game company Taito. Early life Kogan was born in Odesa on January 1, 1920 to Riva and Kalman Kogan. His family moved to Har ...

, founder of

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

Ofer Feldman Ofer Feldman (Japanese language, Japanese: オフェル・フェルドマン; Hebrew language, Hebrew: עפר פלדמן) is an Israeli-born Japanese Professor Emeritus of Political Psychology, and Adjunct Researcher, Doshisha University; & Affili ...

, University professor * Peter Berton, Japanologist *

Péter Frankl Péter Frankl (born 26 March 1953 in Kaposvár, Somogy County, Hungary) is a mathematician, street performer, columnist and educator, active in Japan. Frankl studied mathematics at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and submitted his PhD ...

, Hungarian mathematician * Rachel Elior * Raphael Schoyer * Rena "Rusty" Kanokogi, née Glickman * Roger Pulvers * Setsuzo (Avraham) Kotsuji, Hebrew professor * Shaul Eisenberg, businessman * Shifra Horn * Suiren Higashino, female photographer, model * Sulamith Messerer *

Szymon Goldberg Szymon Goldberg (1 June 1909 – 19 July 1993) was a Polish-born Jewish classical violinist and conductor, latterly an American. Born in Włocławek, Congress Poland, Goldberg played the violin as a child growing up in Warsaw. His first teacher ...

* Yaacov Liberman * Yakov Zinberg, Prof., Kokushikan University * Zerach Warhaftig * () * * , Israeli Esperantist *

Hideo Levy is an United States, American-born Japanese language author. Levy was born in California and educated in Taiwan, the US, and Japan. He is one of the first Americans to write modern literature in Japanese, and his work has won the Noma Literary ...

* Peter Barakan *

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal ( ; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-Dan (rank), dan Black belt (martial arts), black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instru ...

People of Jewish descent

* Bernard Jean Bettelheim (

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

) * Luís de Almeida (

New Christian New Christian (; ; ; ; ; ) was a socio-religious designation and legal distinction referring to the population of former Jews, Jewish and Muslims, Muslim Conversion to Christianity, converts to Christianity in the Spanish Empire, Spanish and Po ...

) * Martin Kafka

Refugees, short expatriates

* Adolf (Aron) Moses Pollak (Ritter) von Rudin *

Albert Kahn (banker) Albert Kahn (3 March 1860 – 14 November 1940) was a French banker and philanthropist, known for initiating '' The Archives of the Planet'', a vast photographical project. Spanning 22 years, it resulted in a collection of 72,000 colour p ...

Emil Lederer Emil Lederer (22 July 1882 – 29 May 1939) was a Bohemian-born German economist and sociologist. Purged from his position at Humboldt University of Berlin in 1933 for being Jewish, Lederer fled into exile. He helped establish the "University ...

Franz Oppenheimer Franz Oppenheimer (March 30, 1864 – September 30, 1943) was a German sociologist and political economist, who published also in the area of the fundamental sociology of the State (polity), state. Life and career Franz Oppenheimer was born int ...

* George W. F. Hallgarten *

Hayyim Selig Slonimski Ḥayyim Selig ben Ya'akov Slonimski (; March 31, 1810 – May 15, 1904), also known by Hebrew abbreviations, his acronym ḤaZaS (), was a Hebrew publisher, mathematician, astronomer, inventor, science writer, and rabbi. He was among the first t ...

* Karl Kindermann, interpreter and informant for the Gestapo * Karl Löwith *

Leo Melamed Leo Melamed (born March 20, 1932) is an American attorney, finance executive, and a pioneer of financial futures. He is the chairman emeritus of CME Group (formerly the Chicago Mercantile Exchange). Personal life Melamed was born Leibel Melamdo ...

Mirra Alfassa Mirra Alfassa (21 February 1878 – 17 November 1973), known to her followers as The Mother or ''La Mère'', was a French-Indian spiritual guru, occultist and yoga teacher, and a collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who considered her to be of ...

* Moshe Atzmon *

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

* Robert Alan Feldman (ja) * Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky (

)

Other related people to Judaism and Jews in Japan

* Hana Brady, and George Brady * Jeremy Glick * Lili Kraus * Samuel Ullman

Ambassadors

* Eli Cohen *

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...

* Ruth Kahanoff (

Kahanov Rabbi Moshe Nehemiah Kahanov (; 1817 – 1883) was a rabbi and Jerusalem Talmudist from the Russian Empire inside of what is now Belarus. Toward the end of his life he migrated to Jerusalem where he became Rosh Yeshiva of Etz Chaim Yeshiva. B ...

)

Films

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

References

External links

The Jews of Kobe

Jews in the Japanese Mind
by David G. Goodman and Miyazawa Masanori.
Our history

The Jewish Community of Japan
{{Asia topic, History of the Jews in

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...