Antisemitism in Japan has developed over the years despite the presence of a relatively small and obscure Jewish population. Japan had no traditional antisemitism until nationalist ideology and propaganda began to spread on the eve of World War II. Before and during the war, Nazi Germany, an ally to the Japanese, encouraged Japan to adopt antisemitic policies. In the post-war period, extremist groups and ideologues have promoted conspiracy theories. History In 1918, the Imperial Japanese Army sent troops to Siberia to cooperate with the White movement. White Army soldiers had been issued copies of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and Japanese soldiers first learned about antisemitism. The Protocols continue to be used as evidence of Jewish conspiracies even though they are widely acknowledged to be a forgery. According to Dr. David Kranzler: "The key to the distinction between the Japanese and the European form of antisemitism seems to lie in the long Christian tradition of identifying the Jew with the Devil, the Antichrist or someone otherwise beyond redemption...The Japanese lacked this Christian image of the Jew and brought to their reading of the Protocols a totally different perspective. The Christian tried to solve the problem of the Jew by eliminating him; the Japanese tried to harness his alleged immense wealth and power to Japan's advantage." Pre–World War II In 1925 Captain Norihiro Yasue published the first translation of the Protocols in Japanese. A Russian-language specialist, he was assigned to the staff of General Gregorii Semenov, a vehement anti-Semite who distributed copies of the Protocols to all of his troops. Along with a few dozen other Japanese soldiers, Yasue read and accepted the premises of the Protocols, and contributed for a time to various antisemitic publications, including Kokusai Himitsu Ryoku no Kenkyu (国際秘密力の研究, Studies in the International Conspiracy), under the pen-name Hō Kōshi. He later changed his views when in 1940 Japan signed the Tripartite Pact which formally sealed Japan's alliance with Nazi Germany. His newly pro-Semitic stance led to his dismissal from the Japanese Army. During the 1930s Minetaro Yamanaka (山中峯太郎) wrote stories about the Yudayaka, the "Jewish Peril." A major journalist at the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun, Yamanaka was a prolific author of children's fiction who serialized the novel Daitō no Tetsujin (Superman of the Great Orient) from August 1933 until the end of 1934 in the periodical Shōnen Kurabu (Boys' Club), read mainly by Japanese boys between