Anti-Korean sentiment in Japan

Anti-Korean sentiment in Japan refers to opposition, hostility, hatred, distrust, fear, and general dislike of Korean people or culture in Japan. Relations between Japan and Korea can date back to nearly two millennia, mostly defined through cultural exchanges and diplomatic trade. However, major events involving military aggression and political disputes play a key factor in harboring negative sentiment. Much of the current anti-Korean sentiment stems from conservative politicians and far-right groups.
Relations between ancient Japan and Korea date back to at least the 4th century, according to historical records of ancient China, Japan, and Korea. According to the Book of Sui, Silla and Baekje greatly valued relations with the Kofun-period Wa and the Korean kingdoms made diplomatic efforts to maintain their good standing with the Japanese. The Samguk sagi (Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms) reported that Baekje and Silla sent their princes as hostages to the Yamato court in exchange for military support to continue their military campaigns; King Asin of Baekje sent his son (Jeonji) in 397, and King Silseong of Silla sent his son Misaheun in 402. Hogong, from Japan, helped to found Silla. According to the Nihon Shoki, Silla was invaded by an army from Wa (Japan) in the third century. In Korea, inscriptions on the Gwanggaeto Stele state that the king of Goguryeo assisted Silla when it was invaded by the Wa, and punished Baekje for allying with the Wa. The stela also records Wa excursions in the early 5th century.
During the Mongol conquests of the 13th and 14th centuries, the Goryeo dynasty of Korea became a vassal state. Under Mongolian influence, Korean envoys were sent to Japan to declare submission to the Mongols, only to be rejected. In response, the emperor Kublai Khan launched two separate invasions in 1274 and 1281. Although both attempts to conquer Japan failed, anti-Korean sentiment had risen, due to major involvements of Korean troops participating in the invasion.
During the Joseon period, Wokou pirate raids on Korean soil were frequent, which would eventually form the basis of hatred between the two sides. Ultimately in 1592, Japanese samurai armies invaded Korea on the orders of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The Imjin Wars continued until 1598, when the Japanese left, and took with them a number of Korea craftsmen.
During the Meiji Restoration of the late 19th century, Japan underwent Westernization and took opportunities to exploit from China, who was unable to defend itself from Western forces. Because Korea acted as part of China's tributary state, Japan want to exert further influence by presenting Korea with the Treaty of Gangwha, forcing Korea to provide extraterritorial rights to Japanese citizens in the country, open three ports—Busan, Incheon, and Wonsan—to Japanese and foreign trade, and establish its independence from China in foreign relations. For the next couple of decades, the Empire of Japan would forcefully remove any foreign influence on Korea to finally annexing the country in 1910. Japan maintained control of Korea until the end of World War II in 1945.
During the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, widespread damage occurred in a region with a significant Korean population, and much of the local Japanese overreacted to rumors which spread after the earthquake. Within the aftermath of the event, there was a common perception amongst some groups of Japanese that ethnic Koreans were poisoning wells, eventually setting off a set of killings against Koreans, where Japanese would use the shibboleth of ba bi bu be bo (ばびぶべぼ) to distinguish ethnic Koreans from Japanese, as it was assumed that Koreans would be unable to pronounce the line correctly, and instead pronounce them as [pa, pi, pu, pe, po]. All people who failed the test were killed, which caused many ethnic Chinese, also unable to correctly pronounce the shibboleth, to be indiscriminately killed in large numbers. Other shibboleths used were "jū-go-en, go-jū-ssen" (15円 50銭, 15 yen, 50 sen) and "gagigugego" (がぎぐげご), where Japanese people pronounce initial g as [ɡ] and medial g as [ŋ] (such a distinction is dying out in recent years), whereas Koreans pronounce the two sounds as [k] and [ɡ] respectively.
In April 2014, several anti-Korean stickers were found posted at 13 locations along the Shikoku Pilgrimage route; the stickers were denounced by a spokesman from the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage Association.
In 2021, a Japanese man set fire to an empty house in a Korean village in Utoro district, Uji. The fire spread to other properties and damaged them. He attributed his actions to his hatred of Korean people, which was in part sparked by online rhetoric. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
There is also much concern in Japan regarding North Korea and its nuclear and long-range missile capabilities, as a result of missile tests in 1993, 1998 and 2006 and an underground nuclear test in 2006. There are also controversies regarding North Korean abductions of Japanese, where Japanese citizens were abducted by North Korean agents during the 1970s and 1980s.
Chongryon, the North Korea-affiliated organization for ethnic Koreans in Japan, has continually drawn controversy from the Japanese public.
Much of the anti-Korean sentiment present today however deals with contemporary attitudes. During the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Japanese and Korean supporters clashed with one another. Both sides were also known to post racist messages against each other on online bulletins. There were also disputes regarding how the event was to be hosted, as a result of the rivalry between the two nations.
The Korean Wave, or the exportation of South Korean pop culture, has created some negative feelings among pockets of Japanese society. Many Japanese citizens with conservative views and some right-wing nationalist groups have organized anti-Korean Wave demonstrations via 2channel. On 9 August 2011, more than 2,000 protesters demonstrated in front of Fuji TV's headquarters in Odaiba, Tokyo against the broadcasting of Korean dramas. Earlier, in July 2011, Japanese former actor Sousuke Takaoka was fired from his agency, Stardust Promotion, for tweeting criticisms against the influx of Korean dramas. The general perception of Koreans on 2channel is negative, with users depicting them as a violent, unethical, and irrational people who are a 'threat' to Japan. Users often reference stereotypes of Koreans, such as the use of dogs in Korean cuisine.
The United States Institute of Peace analyzed that the dispute between Japan-South Korea dispute from anti-Korean xenophobia. According to their analysis, Japan's repeated historical negativism, territorial disputes, and failure of diplomatic agreements are also manifestations of anti-Korean xenophobia. Many Japanese people perceive Koreans to be inferior and untrustworthy.
In Japanese bookstores, Kenkan (嫌韓, "Hatred for [South] Koreans") books are placed separately, and Kenkan is recognized as a book genre. On the other hand, there are no Hyomil (혐일; 嫌日; lit. Hatred for Japanese) books in South Korean bookstores. South Korean media point out that Japan's "Hate of [South] Korean" cannot be identified with South Korea's "anti-Japan" (반일). In South Korea, "anti-Japan" (반일; 反日) are distinguished from "Hate of Japanese" (혐일; 嫌日); "Anti-Japan" ostracizes Japan in an anti-imperialistic, and "Hate of Japanese" ostracizes Japan in all contexts, including nationality. However, in Japan, "anti-[South] Korea" (反韓) and "Hate of [South] Korean" (嫌韓) are not strictly distinguished. There is Kenkan racist hate groups (ex. Zaitokukai and other Uyoku dantai) in Japan, but there is no Hyomil racist hate groups in South Korea. Therefore, the South Korean media opposes the Japanese people's comparison of South Korea's "反日" and Japan's "嫌韓" on the same line.
Manga Kenkanryu (often referred to as "Hating the Korean Wave Manga") by Sharin Yamano discusses these issues while making many other arguments and claims against Korea.
The territorial dispute over Liancourt Rocks also fuels outrage.
South Korean media have accused Japanese people of continuing to support historical revisionism against Korean victims, apologizing for Chinese victims in the World War II issue of Japanese war crimes. This is also related to the fact that Chinese people and Japanese people have racial privileges over Koreans, and the difference in national power between China and South Korea.
Except for some left-wing socialist political parties (mainly Social Democratic Party and Japanese Communist Party), major Japanese politicians and political parties often have historical revisionist perceptions of the comfort women issue. Fumio Kishida has called on the German government to remove the Statue of Peace in Berlin, as it has caused considerable controversy in South Korea. The liberal Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, as well as the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, have also called on the South Korean government to remove the Statue of Peace, with some even suggesting that there was no evidence to indicate that Japanese authorities coerced Korean women into sexual slavery.
On June 26, 1982, the textbook screening process in Japan came under scrutiny when the media of Japan and its neighboring countries gave extensive coverage to changes required by the Minister of Education. Experts from the ministry sought to soften textbook references to Japanese aggression before and during World War II. The Japanese invasion of China in 1937, for example, was modified to "advance". Passages describing the fall of Nanking justified the Japanese atrocities by describing the acts as a result of Chinese provocations. Pressure from China successfully led the Ministry of Education to adopt a new authorization criterion - the "Neighboring Country Clause" (近隣諸国条項) - stating: "textbooks ought to show understanding and seek international harmony in their treatment of modern and contemporary historical events involving neighboring Asian countries."
In 2006, Japanese textbooks stated that the Liancourt Rocks is Japanese territory. This island is disputed territory claimed by both Japan and South Korea. The head of the South Korean Ministry of Education, Kim Shin-il, sent a letter of protest to Bunmei Ibuki, the Minister of Education, on May 9, 2007. In a speech marking the 88th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun called for Japan to correct their school textbooks on controversial topics ranging from "inhumane rape of comfort women" to "the Korean ownership of the Liancourt Rocks".
The Hankyoreh, a liberal newspaper in South Korea, denounced right-wing nationalism led by Shinzo Abe and Nippon Kaigi as "anti-Korean nationalism", in its English column. There were suspicions that Shinzo Abe provided support to anti-Korean ultra-nationalist kindergartens.
Almost all major South Korean media outlets point out that the Liberal Democratic Party and its politicians express anti-Korean sentiment, and that the party's main support base is "Hatred for [South] Koreans".
Some right-wing groups in Japan today have targeted ethnic Koreans living within Japan. One such group, known as Zaitokukai, is organized by members on the internet, and has led street demonstrations against Korean schools.
On March 27, 2010, on the centennial of Japan–Korean annexation, Yukio Edano, then Japanese Minister of State for Government Revitalization, stated that "The invasion and colonization and China and Korea was historically inevitable ... since China and Korea could not modernize themselves". Yukio Edano is known as a liberal politician in Japan.
Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe was also criticized by some experts for encouraging anti-Korean xenophobia in Japanese society, with many South Koreans perceiving Shinzo Abe as an extreme right-wing politician, far more than Donald Trump. He was often called "Trump before Trump" outside of Japan.
In the South Korean media, most Japanese people and almost all major Japanese media criticize the view of South Korean politics for being biased and for portraying or loathing South Korean liberals in a negative way. According to Korean media, even the Asahi Shimbun, known in Japan as a Japanese liberal media outlet, reports on the South Korean liberal Moon Jae-in government using biased and insulting expressions.
According to Michael J. Green in January 2022, presidential candidates in the 2022 South Korean presidential election are willing to improve relations with Japan, but Japanese political leaders have analyzed that they are not.