Racial discrimination against other Asians was habitual in Imperial Japan , having begun with the start of Japanese colonialism . The Meiji era Japanese showed a contempt for other Asians . This was exemplified in an editorial titled '' Datsu-A Ron , '' which advocated that Japan treat other Asians as other western empires treat them . The Shōwa regime preached racial superiority and racialist theories , based on nature of '' Yamato-damashii . '' According to historian Kurakichi Shiratori , one of Emperor Hirohito 's teachers : " Therefore nothing in the world compares to the divine nature ( '' shinsei '' ) of the imperial house and likewise the majesty of our national polity ( '' kokutai '' ) . Here is one great reason for Japan 's superiority . " According to the '' An Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus '' , a classified report in 1943 of the Ministry of Health and Welfare completed on July 1 , 1943 , just as a family has harmony and reciprocity , but with a clear-cut hierarchy , the Japanese , as a racially superior people , were destined to rule Asia " eternally " as the head of the family of Asian nations . The most horrific xenophobia of the pre-Shōwa period was displayed after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake , where in the confusion after a massive earthquake , Koreans were wrongly maligned as poisoning the water supply . A vicious pogrom resulted in the deaths of at least 3,000 Koreans , and the imprisonment of 26,000
1923 Great Kantō earthquake
1923 Great Kantō earthquake
Ethnic issues in Japan