The rise of anti-Kurdish hatred in Japan’s Saitama Pref. fueled by online campaigning, external groups

SAITAMA: “Leave Japan, you are a terrorist. Get out of Japan, you idiot.”

In December 2023, a 30-year-old Kurdish man living in Saitama Prefecture received a barrage of hateful phone calls to the restaurant he owns and operates. The moment he picked up the phone, he was greeted by a male voice shouting abuse. Calls were coming in, which interfered with the restaurant’s work.

“Sales plummeted that day,” he said angrily. The man, who has valid Japanese resident status, runs a popular local restaurant frequented by Japanese people who come in for takeout barbecue in the evenings. This reporter listened to tapes of the aggressive calls the man made and said they weren’t a one-off.

Hate speech targeting the Kurds has become increasingly prominent since the spring and summer of 2023. At the time, the media covered proposed amendments to Japan’s Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act that would allow the deportation of third or subsequent refugee applicants. — drew attention to the Kurds, who belong to a group with a large number of refugee applicants.

In June 2023, the Kawaguchi Municipal Assembly in Saitama Prefecture passed a resolution calling for stricter measures against crimes committed by “certain foreigners”. The resolution states that “some foreigners repeatedly engage in reckless driving and aggressive actions on the road, causing numerous incidents of personal and property damage that cannot be ignored.”

The following month, a violent altercation broke out in Kawaguchi involving people believed to be Kurds. Several people were stabbed during the incident (seven people were arrested, including on suspicion of attempted murder, but all were later released without charge). The incident caused a commotion as about 100 people, believed to be acquaintances of the injured, gathered at the hospital where they were being treated.

Although the resolution does not specifically name any nationality, the timing of the July incident coincided with a surge in anti-Kurdish sentiment on social media sites such as X (formerly Twitter). The posts included unauthorized photos of Kurds and their children taken in public. A 30-year-old Kurd living in Waraba, Saitama Prefecture shared, “I became afraid to go out with my child. For a while we had no choice but to stay at home.”

In November 2023, the Turkish government announced a freeze on domestic assets belonging to organizations it believed were linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group Turkey considers a terrorist organization. Among the victims was the Japanese Kurdish Cultural Association. While the association denied any support for the PKK, the statement fueled online narratives that equate all Kurds with terrorism.

Kurdish support organizations in Japan were also inundated with threatening messages and discriminatory letters, including ones that repeatedly called for the “extermination of all Kurds.” Since February 2024, anti-Kurdish demonstrations have been held repeatedly outside JR Warabi Station in Warabi by groups previously known for their anti-Korean campaigns in cities such as Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. This situation has increased recently, with incidents including unauthorized uploading of photos of Kurdish businesses to social media, as well as video streamers appearing without warning in places associated with the Kurds.

Amid these developments, many Kurds wished to remain anonymous and not be photographed in interviews for this article, citing fears of personal attacks.

Municipal authorities have received complaints about problems such as garbage disposal, noise and reckless driving, allegedly involving Kurdish residents. However, the hate speech doesn’t seem to be coming from the locals. At a press conference in May 2024, Kawaguchi Mayor Nobuo Okunoki stated, “As for the demonstrations, I understand that they are being carried out by outsiders, not our residents.”

Takahiro Akedo, an adjunct professor of sociology at Osaka Metropolitan University and an expert on hate speech, told the Mainichi Shimbun: “The visibility of incidents involving the Kurds and the labeling of them as ‘terrorists’ fuel online agitation and increase hatred, even among those who are not has a direct connection with the local community.”

He added: “In the past, groups linked to the Zaitokukai (an anti-Korean hate organization) that have led anti-Korean demonstrations have targeted Kurds, but the involvement of video streamers seeking to increase their audience by using the keyword ‘Kurd’ online is a new phenomenon . Organized groups can be prosecuted, but fighting these provocateurs in a guerilla style is more difficult.”

Akedo stressed the importance of balancing concerns about local issues with efforts to build community relations, warning: “We must make sure that local concerns about foreigners are not exploited by online agitators.”

According to data from the Saitama Prefectural Police, in 2023, the largest number of arrests by nationality involved Vietnamese (417), followed by Chinese (234). On the contrary, Turkish citizens, among whom there are probably Kurds, arrested 69 people. The total number of foreign nationals arrested in the prefecture has remained stable in recent years, indicating no significant increase in foreign-related crimes.

(Japanese original by Takuro Tahara, Saitama Bureau)