Coincidence or What?
Are the Japanese actually one of the long Lost Tribes of Israel? Seems unlikely, but according to an interesting post in Oniazuma, the idea is not new, has plausible evidence behind it, and may well be accurate. There are a lot of mysterious connections that seem hard to explain otherwise.
A very interesting and contested theory is that the Japanese are actually a part of the Lost Tribes of Israel. During the constant warfare and strife that engulfed Israel, 10 of the 12 Tribes of Israel dispersed into Asia and have since disappeared. Israeli officials publicly acknowledge the mysterious similarities between Judaism and Japan. Recently, in March of 2007, Rabbi Avichail of the Israeli Investigative Body Amishav, which searches for descendants of the Lost Tribes, arrived in Japan. Although they only stayed for a short amount of time, the investigative body concluded that “There is no doubt that there is some kind of strong connection between Judaism and Japan. More research is needed to determine the details.”
Oniazuma presents the following NHK video. Many strange similiarities are outlined, for example: “The word Essa, which is a carrying chant chanted by the holders of the Omikoshi, or portable shrine, is a word which really has no meaning in Japanese but means “Carry” in Hebrew. One of Japan’s largest festivals, the Gion Festival, is believed by many, including the Gion Festival officials, to be the same as Ancient Israel’s Zion Festival.”
The similarity between hirigana/katakana and the Hebrew script seems particularly persuasive to me? That couldn’t possibly be a coincidence–or could it? Probably Japundit readers have an opinion on this–are you all skeptical cynics or gullible conspiracy theorists who probably talk to flying saucers and think Martians built Stonehedge?
Poor Mari….she’s my favorite. If I ever become a j-pop singer and part of the...
Shes definitely at the top of my hot list.
perfeckt 10:10
I hear Jesus spent some time in Japan as well.
November 19th, 2007 at 8:27 amWhat I found fascinating was that some Jewish people were actually able to escape persecution from the Nazis during WW2 by hiding out in Shanghai ghettos and some in Japan also I believe. This is ironic because we all know about the atrocities committed by Japanese troops during WW2 against their asian neighbors. In fact I believe Japanese officials refused to turn over these Jewish refugees to their Nazi counterparts.
There have been anti semitic sentiments from the Japanese government during that time, but some anecdotes have the Japanese in fact fascinated by the myths and stereotypes of Jewish wealth amongst others. Supposedly Jewish support of Japan during the Russo-Japan war helped Japan prevail, so they were somewhat grateful.
Fascinating history between the two groups.
November 19th, 2007 at 11:27 amIf you like Tezuka Osamu, hunt down his book Adolph ni Tsugu, about two men named Adolph. Very good read.
There was a silly book called The Jews and the Japanese back in the 1990s. I actually read it in English and Japanese, don’t know what the hell is wrong with me. I’m not Jewish, or Japanese.
November 19th, 2007 at 1:51 pmEven this story (one of the long Lost Tribes of Israel arrived to Japan) is true it’s not a big deal. In old Japan there were thousands of gods and goddesses. That Jewish one just has belonged to them. After all, cultural and religious background as the whole in Japan are completely unlikely Jewish.
Only I understand better about Gion Matsuri festival in Kyoto. It’s strongly influenced by Zion festival of Israel. And ” Gion ” and ” Zion ” certainly sound similar.
November 20th, 2007 at 8:42 amWhat kind of hebrew writing is he comparing? Not this one for sure:
http://www.jewfaq.org/graphics/hebrew.gif
November 20th, 2007 at 12:29 pmActually, `The Japanese and the Jews” came out back in the 70s, written by some Japanese calling himself Isaiah Ben Dassen; was later translated into English.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:10 pmThere have since been dozens of books about supposed connections, similarities, etc between Japanese and Jews, mostly simple – and simple-minded – compilations of stereotypes piled atop cliches.
Sorry buddy, the origins of hiragana and katakana are well understood; they were derived from chinese characters and have nothing to do with hebrew.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27yōgana#Development
November 21st, 2007 at 12:45 amThere was also the book “Jews in the Japanese Mind” in the mid 1990s.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:50 am[...] in Japan.- This is cool, some Akira Kurosawa can be viewed online for free.- The Japanese, a lost tribe of Israel?- Personally I don’t see what the big deal is with this. - 101 reasons why you have been [...]
November 25th, 2007 at 6:57 am