In a 2024 article on Japan’s changing refugee policy in the Asia-Pacific Journal, Maximilien Xavier Rehm, a researcher at Doshisha University, argues that “Japan’s recent shift to grant more asylum seekers [from Ukraine, Myanmar, and Afghanistan] protection can be understood as part of these foreign policy changes, which includes more pro-active regional and international engagement.” However, a group missing from Rehm’s analysis is the Kurdish people, who have constituted a significant segment of asylum seekers in Japan. Despite Japan’s shifting refugee policies, only one Kurd was granted asylum in the country’s history, and only after a successful appeal to the Sapporo High Court in 2022. The Japanese government’s treatment of Kurdish refugees demonstrates a double standard and systematic issues with the country’s asylum policy. In turn, Kurds are placed in a persistent limbo, which has sparked unrest among Japanese communities.

Kurdish Population in Japan

Kurds, or Kurdish people, are an Iranic ethnic group native to the region of Kurdistan in West Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria. Kurds are considered the world’s largest stateless ethnic population, with an estimated 30 to 35 million people in the Middle East. While the displacement of Kurds first emerged in the early twentieth century, the Kurdish migration issue in Japan has only become a significant issue in the past decade. Japan has had a small Kurdish population since the 1990s, but the population has increased rapidly in the past five years. As of 2025, estimates place Japan’s Kurdish population at around two thousand to three thousand people, with the majority living in Kawaguchi and Warabi cities in southern Saitama Prefecture. Although many Kurdish asylum seekers are not permitted to legally work in Japan, many work “illegally” in the construction and demolition industry, a key sector of the Japanese economy facing underemployment.

Japan’s Immigration and Asylum Policies

Since Japan acceded to the United Nations (UN) Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1981, admitting refugees has been a part of the country’s immigration policy. However, Japan’s immigration policy is known for its restrictiveness, exemplified by its 1.5 percent acceptance rate of refugees in 2024—190 people out of 12,373 applicants.

This has impacted the approach the Japanese government has taken regarding the Kurdish refugee issue. Yasuhiro Hishida, assistant to the director of Japan’s Refugee Status Recognition Office, said officials suspected widespread abuse of the refugee process. Most applicants come from countries that are not currently considered conflict zones, suggesting that they are economic migrants rather than refugees fleeing persecution. However, immigrant advocates have countered this claim, including Shiho Tanaka, the spokeswoman for the Japanese Association for Refugees, who claims that these people face a “life of danger.” In the case of Eyyup Kurt, a Kurdish journalist who previously applied for asylum in Japan, the Turkish police had arrested him five times, and he was even shot by a member of the Islamic State.

 Experts have also argued that the Japanese government has refused to consider Kurds as refugees to maintain positive economic and diplomatic relations with the Turkish regime. Turkey claims that Kurds are not a discriminated minority due to their rights of suffrage and citizenship.

Kurds in Persistent Limbo

Sohrab Ahmadian, a research fellow at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, categorizes Kurdish immigrants in Japan into two main groups: asylum applicants who register their application with the immigration office, and “overstayers” who use their legal residence period in the first few months but do not register any applications after that and keep on staying in Japan irregularly. Compared to other migrants who enter Japan through student or skilled labor programs, many Kurds apply for asylum in order to escape persecution from the Turkish government. However, due to the restrictive Japanese immigration policy, only one Kurd has managed to be granted asylum in history.

In turn, most Kurdish applicants are left in “provisional release” status, where they are temporarily released from detention, unable to legally work, access health coverage, or apply for permanent residency. In turn, many Kurds choose to enter Japan with their Turkish passport, allowing them to stay in the country for ninety days without a visa. While some do apply for asylum once they enter, many choose not to in order to avoid drawing attention from immigration officers. As a result, Kurds are placed in a state of limbo where they apply and reapply for refugee status, only to be eventually rejected. In the meantime, the asylum seekers engage in “illegal” labor to survive and aid family members overseas.

Rising Tension and Hate Speech

In 2023, anti-Kurdish sentiment in Japan escalated through social media platforms following a series of provocative posts on X created by a Turkish national pretending to be a Kurd. Anti-Kurdish attitudes have existed for years, mainly due to neighborhood issues over noise complaints and failure to comply with Japanese garbage regulations. However, an incident in August 2023 at a hospital in Kawaguchi sparked an outpouring of hate speech and anti-Kurdish demonstrations. Two Kurdish men were taken to a hospital due to a fight between two Kurdish men over an extramarital affair. At the hospital parking lot, the friends and relatives of the two got in a brawl, resulting in the deployment of the riot police. The incident became heavily reported by media outlets.

Japanese hate speech has also targeted undocumented Kurds, including those released from detention pending a ruling on their asylum applications, by associating this legally ambiguous status with crime or disorder and labeling them as “fake refugees.” As writer Yasuda Koichi argues, “The lack of documentation is largely the fault of the Japanese immigration system, which routinely denies Kurds refugee status despite the persecution they endure in Turkey.” In addition, revisions to Japan’s Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act in 2024—allowing for the deportation of individuals submitting their third or subsequent refugee applications—further fueled xenophobic sentiment toward Kurds.

Conclusion

The Kurds have become a stand-in for a larger national anxiety over identity, migration, and control. In other words, problems over Kurdish refugees demonstrate a broader problem in Japan’s immigration policy, which neither protects refugees nor reassures the public. The 2024 revisions to Japan’s immigration policy also demonstrate a move to appease anti-immigration supporters rather than to better address the refugee issue. UN human rights experts have criticized the proposal by claiming that it undermines international human rights law and the principle of refoulement. Japan’s treatment of Kurds through indefinite migration detention and the threat of deportation to Turkey, where they face danger, has constituted a violation of the Refugee Convention and the Convention against Torture. In other words, although Japanese refugee policies have made positive changes in light of recent events, namely the war in Ukraine, the persistent denial of Kurdish refugees demonstrates how Japanese policies continue to undermine the human rights of refugees and international law more broadly. Not only does this further damage Japan’s reputation on the international stage, but the choice to ignore “overstaying” Kurds for their contribution to the construction sector also demonstrates the country’s worsening economic vulnerability. Although it is unlikely, a fundamental shift in Japanese refugee policy is needed to resolve these issues and secure protection for the Kurds.

(Image: Wikimedia)