KAWAGUCHI, Saitama Prefecture--Hate speech has again reared its ugly head, in this case against the Kurdish community living close to Tokyo.

It follows an altogether familiar pattern: phone calls screaming at the person on the other end of the line to leave Japan and a blitz of discriminatory and prejudicial messages on social media.

The outburst seems to have been triggered by an incident last year in which a group of Kurds got involved in a fight and several people were stabbed. The usual complaints about visa issues and foreign residents not putting out the trash properly or being noisy late at night no doubt played a part, too.

The hate campaign echoes a spate of incidents over the years against ethnic Koreans living all over Japan, including Kawasaki, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture to the south of Tokyo.

Kawaguchi has a population of about 600,000 and around 3,000 Kurdish people live there and in the neighboring city of Warabi.

A Kurdish restaurant owner in Kawaguchi said he has been the target of frequent hateful phone calls over the past six months with the same message directed at other ethnic minorities: leave Japan.

On April 14, a small group of people, about 10 in number, gathered near the restaurant holding signs pledging to rid the community of “Kurdish crimes and fake refugees.”

The 32-year-old restaurant operator came to Japan about 20 years ago because his father was already here. He resides legally in Japan with his family of five.

He had been on friendly terms with his neighbors, but no longer. The man said he has begun to think about leaving Japan because of the hateful messages directed at his restaurant.

The Kurdish people are an ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in western Asia, which spans northwestern Iran, northern Iraq and northern Syria. The Kurdish population is estimated to number around 30 million. They are no strangers to the twin evils of discrimination and oppression.

Kurdish people holding Turkish passports began living in Kawaguchi and Warabi from about 1990 because the area is only about 30 minutes away by train from Tokyo Station.

Since then, considerable number of Kurds are on provisional leave from immigration facilities for overstaying their visas.

Kawaguchi municipal government officials admit that problems have arisen in the past with residents complaining about the way garbage was left out for collection or loud noises late at night.

Many Kurdish people work in wrecking companies that operate at all hours. For residents living close by the noise can be intolerable, which has often led to complaints against firms over noise issues and shaking caused by the equipment used.

In July 2022, the Kawaguchi city government enacted an ordinance requiring wrecking companies to seek the approval of the city government before using large spaces to store equipment and materials.

Then in June last year the Kawaguchi city assembly approved an opinion paper acknowledging that the bulk of its foreign residents were law-abiding but called on police to crack down on crimes committed by “certain foreigners.”

“I have received complaints about unsafe driving and violence,” said Seiichi Okutomi, who is a municipal assembly member belonging to the Liberal Democratic Party and represents a district where many Kurdish people reside. “This might have been influenced by the increase in those who came to Japan after the earthquake in Turkey.”

SCUFFLE LINKED TO HATE MAIL

Kawaguchi municipal officials said the situation changed dramatically last summer when phones at the office began running off the hook with callers demanding that Kurdish people who commit crimes be deported.

A trigger for this could have been an incident on July 4, 2023, involving two groups of foreign nationals that left several people with stab wounds. Police arrested seven individuals on suspicion of attempted murder, but no one was indicted.

According to Saitama prefectural police, around 100 people gathered in front of the Kawaguchi Municipal Medical Center where the injured people were treated.

Because so many people stood menacingly in front of the facility, the medical center stopped accepting emergency patients for close to six hours from the evening of July 4.

According to the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association, the seven people arrested were all Kurdish and those who gathered at the medical center were relatives of the victims and the perpetrators.

Media coverage of the incidents triggered an outpouring of posts on social media calling the Kurdish people criminals.

Officials of the Kawaguchi city government received around 400 angry phone calls. When the callers were asked what really bothered them, many referred to the social media posts and said they lived outside Saitama.

The Saitama prefectural police said there were 56 cases in 2023 in Kawaguchi involving those with Turkish passports, although it is unclear if all involved Kurdish people.

“It was not good to have caused the incident and to have troubled the hospital and local residents,” said Vakkas Cikan, 32, of the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association. “But I think it is discriminatory to describe all Kurdish people as criminals.”

Association members started going on patrols of the neighborhood with residents as well as cautioning Kurdish people flouting convention and consuming alcohol in front of convenience stores. They also reported illegal parking.

“Even though it is difficult to say from appearances where they are from, it almost always becomes the case of suspects being considered Kurdish when something happens,” said a woman who serves as an executive in a neighborhood association where many Kurdish people live. “While I do hold some concerns, I also hope everyone can live together by following the rules.”

Saitama Governor Motohiro Ono said at a March 28 news conference he had called on the prefectural police to deal strictly with those who commit illegal acts, regardless of nationality.

“Hate speech must be thoroughly driven out of our community,” he added.

REFUGEE APPROVALS EXACERBATE PROBLEM

Actions taken by foreign governments have had an impact on Kurdish people living in Japan and made their lives more difficult.

For example, the Turkish government for many years implemented a strict policy of assimilating the Kurdish people. But the policy backfired as it led to the establishment of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the goal of independence from Turkey.

A turning point came when the party embraced armed conflict and Ankara designated it as a terrorist organization.

Last November, the Turkish government certified the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association and six officers as linked with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and their assets in Turkey were frozen.

The association vehemently denied any connection.

At a March session of the Upper House Judicial Affairs Committee, a high-ranking official of the National Police Agency said the government had not designated the association as a terrorist group or as a backer of a terrorist organization.

The small number of refugee applications approved in Japan has exacerbated the situation.

According to lawyers who have helped Kurdish refugee applicants, it was only in July 2022 that the first Kurdish individual holding a Turkish passport had an application approved. Two months earlier, the Sapporo High Court ruled that the man had been tortured in Turkey.

The Immigration Services Agency said there were 3,391 individuals on provisional release as of 2022 who were subject to deportation. Those with Turkish passports, 650, were the most prevalent by citizenship or region.

Individuals on provisional leave cannot work or join health insurance programs.

But the Kawaguchi city government, citing humanitarian considerations, has been shouldering the costs of medical care as well as the expenses of children going to school.

Those who break the law will be dealt with strictly, said Kawaguchi Mayor Nobuo Okuki. He also called on the central government to allow others on provisional leave to work so they can maintain a minimum level of living.

PROTESTERS INSULTED

A citizens group working to rid Saitama of discrimination received a written explanation from the Saitama prefectural police that an officer had referred to protesters as “nobodies.”

The officer was on duty and directed the comment to residents voicing their opposition to a demonstration against the Kurdish people held in Warabi in February.

The anti-Kurdish demonstrators shot footage that contained the comment made by the Saitama police officer and posted the video on a streaming site. It was later taken down.

The Saitama prefectural police also wrote that it would instruct and educate its employees, so such incidents do not recur.

(This article was written by Tomonori Asada, Makoto Asano, Yuki Nikaido and Nobufumi Yamada.)