【Modern Japan🇯🇵 Hidden Problems】📌 Rising Hate and Fear: Kurdish Residents in Japan Face Daily Threats

2025.07.16 Japan Unboxed

In areas like Kawaguchi and Warabi in Saitama Prefecture, home to many Kurdish residents, hate speech and discrimination are becoming alarmingly routine. From anonymous threats to hostile phone calls, a disturbing wave of xenophobia is seeping from the internet into everyday life—and even into politics.

📍 Hate That Doesn’t Stop

Every Sunday, Kurdish residents and Japanese supporters gather at a Japanese-language class hosted by the civic group “With the Kurds in Japan.” But behind the warm atmosphere lies constant fear.

Ritsuo Nukui, the group’s representative, reports over 187 hate emails in the past two years, including disturbing messages like “I’ll kill you” and threatening letters written in broken Japanese. Staff members also receive verbal abuse via phone calls.

🧍‍♂️ Normalizing Discrimination

Online hate is no longer confined to screens. Nukui notes that hate speech is now treated as normal on social media. During a lecture at a Tokyo university, students admitted to having negative impressions of Kurds—impressions shaped entirely by what they had seen on social media, without ever having visited Kawaguchi or Warabi.

“This kind of discrimination spreads thin and wide,” Nukui warns, emphasizing how prejudice now quietly penetrates the minds of people across Japan.

📚 Voices of the Kurdish Community

Yaman (alias), a 44-year-old Kurdish man, has attended the language classes since their founding in 2022. He’s studying hard to pass the Japanese Language Proficiency Test N2 level this year.

“I know there’s hate online,” he says. “But I try not to engage—it doesn’t help my family, and I don’t want conflict.” Even in schools, Kurdish children report being called “dirty,” highlighting how discrimination starts at a young age.

🧭 Where Do We Go From Here?

As hate seeps into daily routines and public discourse, civic organizations and individuals are calling for awareness and legal action. But for many Kurdish residents, the question remains: Why are we being targeted—and when will it stop?

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