Editing Religion in Japan (section)

===Judaism===

{{Main|History of the Jews in Japan|Jewish settlement in Imperial Japan}}
[[Judaism]] (ユダヤ教 ''Yudayakyō'') in Japan is practiced by about 2,000 [[Jews]] living in the country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/889.pdf|last=Golub|first=Jennifer|title=Japanese Attitudes Toward Jews|publisher=Pacific Rim Institute of the American Jewish Committee|date=August 1992}}</ref> With the opening of Japan to the external world in 1853 and the end of Japan's ''[[sakoku]]'' [[foreign policy]], some Jews immigrated to Japan from abroad, with the first recorded Jewish settlers arriving at [[Yokohama]] in 1861. The Jewish population continued to grow into the 1950s, fueled by immigration from Europe and the Middle East, with [[Tokyo]] and [[Kobe]] forming the largest communities.

During [[World War II]], some European Jews fleeing [[the Holocaust]] found refuge in Japan. These mainly Polish Jews received a so-called Curaçao visa from the Dutch consul in Kaunas, [[Jan Zwartendijk]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1072299| title = Jan Zwartendijk. - Collections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref> This allowed one Japanese diplomat, [[Chiune Sugihara]], the Japanese consul to [[Lithuania]], to issue Japanese transit visa. In doing so, both Zwartendijk and Sugihara disregarded orders and helped more than 6,000 Jews escape the Nazis. After World War II, a large portion of Japan's Jewish population emigrated, many going to what would become [[Israel]]. Some of those who remained married locals and were assimilated into Japanese society.

There are community centres serving Jews in Tokyo<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jccjapan.or.jp/|title=Jewish Community of Japan|access-date=2011-12-01|archive-date=2006-01-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060117013448/http://www.jccjapan.or.jp/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Kobe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jcckobe.org/|title=Jewish Community of Kansai}}</ref> The [[Chabad-Lubavitch]] organization has two centers in Tokyo.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chabad.jp/|title=Chabad Japan|publisher=Chabad Jewish Center of Japan}}</ref>

In September 2015, Japan nominated a [[Chief Rabbi]] for the first time, the head of Tokyo's [[Chabad House]], Rabbi Binyamin Edrei.<ref>{{cite news|title=Japan Gets First-Ever Chief Rabbi|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/200785|date=September 17, 2015}}</ref>