The deep affinity between Japan and Israel

Japan and Israel have a curious bond, which recent events have highlighted. A video showing a group of Japanese senior citizens singing ‘Japan loves Israel, and Israel loves Japan’ (in Hebrew) while waving Japanese and Israeli flags has received more than 900,000 views. The group, believed to be Christians, may be at the extreme end of Japanese philo-Semitism but their passion is generally shared. A crowd of 1,200 (big for Japan and probably greater than the number of Jews in the entire country) demonstrated in support of Israel in Tokyo earlier this month, just one of several similar events.

There have been pro-Palestine demonstrations, but they have been small-scale and placid. I witnessed one with fewer than ten people. The criticism focuses on Israel’s military strategy but not its right to exist. The campuses have been quiet, too. There have been no reports of intimidation or abuse of Japan’s Jewish community.