Country Report: Japan July 2026
- Genocide Watch
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Genocide Watch
Japan has long practiced historical revisionism regarding their Empire-era atrocities. From the late 1800s to 1945, the Japanese Empire committed numerous war crimes against multiple peoples across the Asia-Pacific region. Often referred to as the Asian Holocaust, these atrocities included genocide and other mass atrocities during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Its actions included, starvation, forced assimilation, mass murder, mass rape, ethnic cleansing, sexual slavery, unethical human experimentation, and genocide. Japanese atrocities caused an estimated 19 to 30 million deaths.
Imperial Japan transitioned from a fledgling regional power to a colonial empire. Fearing further humiliation at the hands of Western powers, Japan developed a militarist national policy. Rising nationalism weakened democratic rule and Japan became increasingly expansionist as the so-called “divine mission” to unify Asia under Japanese rule became a central imperial ambition.
Japanese forces used extreme violence wherever they invaded and committed cultural genocide through mass rape of Korean women and women from other nations. They carried out targeted mass killings against civilians, noncombatants, and prisoners of war (POWs), such as in the Nanjing Massacre (1937-38), the Sook Ching Massacre (1942), and the Manila Massacre (1945). Japanese forces conducted experiments on civilians and POWs to develop biological weapons. They also used chemical weapons.
Postwar efforts to remove Imperial ideology from Japan were limited. Authorities never prosecuted some wartime perpetrators; they released others, and some returned to postwar power. Authorities likewise never prosecuted certain crimes. The U.S. government completely exonerated the Imperial family. Japan undertook little comparable to Germany’s denazification.
Some still deny the atrocities committed by the Japanese Empire. Influential lobby groups such as Nippon Kaigi promote historical negationism. Japanese officials often portray the country’s colonial past positively. School textbooks systematically minimize Japan’s wartime role. Nationalistic views have grown more prominent despite low favorability and a strong tradition of pacifism.
Japanese leaders have issued apologies. Some observers received the Murayama Statement (1995) somewhat positively. Critics described the Abe Statement (2015) as revisionist. Regional critics condemned former Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Junichiro Koizumi for their visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which houses the remains of Class A war criminals. Many still believe Japan has not apologized sufficiently.
Japan appears to be dismantling its postwar pacifist framework. Reactions in the region have been mixed, especially in South Korea and China. Japanese officials claim their actions are for deterrence alone. In April 2026, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi lifted Japan’s longstanding ban on lethal arms exports, and the Japan Self-Defense Forces joined U.S.-Philippine military exercises as combatants for the first time. Takaichi has also pushed for a revision of Article 9 of the Constitution, in which the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation. A different constitutional revision would allow emergency powers akin to
those seen in Japan's militaristic past. The government has also announced the creation of Japan’s first new intelligence agency since World War II. In July, Japan’s Defense Minister declared that Japan could no longer avoid the nuclear weapons debate, setting the stage for a potential Japanese nuclear weapons program.
Critics link rising nationalism to measures seen as a right-wing turn aimed at strengthening Japan’s symbolic institutions. Lawmakers banned the desecration of the national flag, seen by some as a violation of freedom of speech. Another reform aims to prevent the end of the imperial line of succession, but maintains the ban on a female emperor. Anti-foreigner sentiment is rising, alongside dangerous rhetoric targeting the Kurdish minority in Japan. Overtourism and alleged abuses have heightened xenophobia.
Due to persistent historical revisionism and denialism, nationalism, democratic erosion, and inflammatory rhetoric against specific groups, Genocide Watch considers Japan to be at Stage 3: Discrimination and Stage 10: Denial.
Genocide Watch recommends:
Japan must adequately address its imperial past by actively remembering and acknowledging its violent actions.
Japan must seek reconciliation with affected groups and individuals across the Asia-Pacific region.
Japan should recognize its diversity and avoid inflammatory rhetoric against foreigners and domestic minorities.
Japanese legislators should reconsider the push for revision of the Constitution’s pacifist Article 9.
Japanese government officials should join the Imperial family's boycott of official visits to the Yasukuni Shrine.
