The march drew many ex-pats living in the Japanese capital as well as Japanese nationals and went through central districts of the city under the direction of accompanying police.
“Racism is not only America’s problem, it’s a global problem. In Japan, perhaps this is not such a pressing problem, but there is also discrimination against [the indigenous] Ainu and Okinawans. There is discrimination against the dark-skinned. We want to draw the attention of the Japanese to the fact that there is discrimination in Japan and so that the Japanese learn more about the BLM movement,” a young woman participating in the march said to Sputnik.
She explained the absence of a mention of Ainu or Okinawa residents in the slogans that it was important to draw attention to the problem of racism in general, so today's march is held under the motto Black Lives Matter.
“Let this be the first step towards understanding what racial discrimination is, what racism is in Japan. In Japan, they don’t know what it is,” said a young Tokyo resident who named herself as Sayako.
Passers-by looked on and photographed the march and shopkeepers came out to witness the rare event in Tokyo.
Black lives matter protest today in Tokyo pic.twitter.com/2WA97ltSQ5
— Jimi (@Jatt_Derek) June 14, 2020
The protesters marched in a single long file on the pedestrian sidewalk and were accompanied by police the entire way, who directed them to stop at street lights and turn this way or that.
Messages of protest from the Black Lives Matter march in Tokyo today. pic.twitter.com/Nlp4dCOAkD
— Ian Munroe (@IMunroe) June 14, 2020
Japan is largely ethnically homogeneous with indigenous people on the far north and south making up a fraction of the population.
During Japan's colonial rule over Korea and part of China, the Japanese people harboured deeply ingrained ideas of racial purity and superiority over other eastern Asians.
