SAITAMA -- "Leave Japan, you terrorist. Get out of Japan, you idiot."

In December 2023, a Kurdish man in his 30s living in Saitama Prefecture received a barrage of hateful phone calls at the restaurant he owns and operates. The moment he picked up the phone, he was met with a man's voice shouting abuse. The calls kept coming, disrupting the restaurant's business.

"Sales plummeted that day," he said angrily. The man, who holds a valid residency status in Japan, runs a popular local eatery frequented by Japanese commuters who stop by for takeout kebabs in the evenings. This reporter listened to recordings the man had made of the harassing calls, and he said they were not a one-time occurrence.

Hate speech targeting Kurds has become increasingly visible since the spring and summer of 2023. At the time, media coverage surrounding proposed amendments to Japan's Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act -- which would allow for the deportation of individuals submitting their third or subsequent refugee applications -- drew attention to Kurds, who are among the groups with a high number of refugee applicants.

In June 2023, the Kawaguchi Municipal Assembly in Saitama Prefecture passed a resolution calling for stricter measures against crimes committed by "certain foreigners." The resolution claimed that "some foreigners repeatedly engage in reckless driving and road rage, causing numerous personal and property damage incidents that cannot be ignored."

The following month, a violent altercation occurred in Kawaguchi involving individuals believed to be Kurds. Several people were injured with knives during the incident (seven people were arrested, including on suspicion of attempted murder, though all were later released without indictment). The incident caused a commotion when some 100 people, believed to be acquaintances of the injured, gathered at the hospital where they were being treated.

Although the resolution did not explicitly name any nationality, the timing of the July incident coincided with a surge in anti-Kurdish sentiment on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter). Posts included unauthorized photos of Kurds and their children taken in public spaces. A Kurdish man in his 30s living in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, shared, "I became afraid to go out with my child. For a while, we had no choice but to stay home."

In November 2023, the Turkish government announced the freezing of domestic assets belonging to organizations it alleged were affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a group Turkey designates as a terrorist organization. Among those targeted was the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association. While the association denied any support for the PKK, this announcement fueled online narratives equating all Kurds with terrorism.

Kurdish support organizations in Japan have also been inundated with threatening messages and discriminatory letters, including ones that repeatedly called for the "annihilation of all Kurds." Since February 2024, anti-Kurdish demonstrations have been held multiple times outside JR Warabi Station in Warabi by groups previously known for their anti-Korean campaigns in cities like Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. This has escalated recently, with incidents including unauthorized photographs of Kurdish-owned businesses being uploaded to social media, and video streamers showing up unannounced at Kurdish-related locations.

Amid these developments, many Kurds requested anonymity and no photos in interviews for this article, citing fear of personal attacks.

Municipal governments have received complaints about issues like garbage disposal, noise and reckless driving allegedly involving Kurdish residents. However, the hate speech does not appear to originate from locals. In a May 2024 press conference, Kawaguchi Mayor Nobuo Okunoki stated, "As far as demonstrations are concerned, my understanding is that they are being conducted by outsiders, not our residents."

Takahiro Akedo, an associate professor of sociology at Osaka Metropolitan University and an expert on hate speech, told the Mainichi Shimbun, "The visibility of incidents involving Kurds and the labeling of them as 'terrorists' have fueled online agitation and heightened hate, even among those with no direct connection to the local community."

He added, "Previously, groups affiliated with Zaitokukai (an anti-Korean hate organization) that had led anti-Korean demonstrations were targeting Kurds, but the involvement of video streamers seeking to boost their viewership by exploiting the 'Kurd' keyword online is a new phenomenon. Legal action can be taken against organized groups, but addressing these guerrilla-style provocateurs is more challenging."

Akedo emphasized the importance of balancing concerns over local issues with efforts to build relationships within the community, warning, "We need to ensure that local residents' concerns about foreign residents are not exploited by online agitators."

According to data from Saitama Prefectural Police, in 2023, the highest number of arrests by nationality involved Vietnamese individuals (417), followed by Chinese (234). In contrast, Turkish nationals, which presumably include Kurds, accounted for 69 arrests. The overall number of foreign nationals arrested in the prefecture has remained stable in recent years, indicating no significant surge in foreigner-related crimes.

(Japanese original by Takuro Tahara, Saitama Bureau)