Abstract

This chapter examines the historical development of Japan’s racial ideology, tracing its formation and linking it to Japan’s engagement with White Western international law. During its modernization era, Japan adopted Western frameworks of development and ‘civilization’, internalizing their attendant racial hierarchies. This process served two interrelated purposes: first, to assert Japan’s equality with European states, and second, to repurpose civilizational discourse in justifying its imperial expansion across Asia. These dual legacies—rooted in racial hierarchy and claims of regional racial superiority—produced a paradoxical dynamic in Japan’s relationship with international law. On one hand, Japan utilized international legal discourse to assert its status within the ‘civilized’ community of nations. On the other, it disregarded international law to preserve a chauvinistic view of its own racial primacy. Through the lens of labour and immigration law, this chapter explores how these enduring racial ideologies continue to shape Japan’s legal and policy frameworks.