Danny Jin did not know he was half-Palestinian until he was eight years old.
The 19-year-old Palestinian-Japanese rapper says his father avoided talking about being Palestinian for much of his childhood and the only inkling Danny Jin had as a child that he was half-Arab was because he ate za’atar.
Now that Danny Jin is much older, he understands why his father evaded questions about his country of origin.
At the time, his grandfather was studying at university in Egypt and since 1967, has never been able to return home.
When Danny’s grandfather got married, he moved to Kuwait but became a refugee for the third time when all Jordanian citizens were ordered to leave during the First Gulf War.
They ended up in France where Danny says they built a good life, but the trauma of multiple displacements meant that his grandfather told Danny’s father and his siblings to focus on making a success of their lives and to leave the past in the past.
But since October 2023, the Tokyo-based rapper says his music has taken a political turn.
He quickly realised that Japanese media outlets and news channels were only reporting generic headlines about Gaza, and almost everyone he knew had no idea about what was really going on there.
Danny Jin says it’s not their fault; Japanese people’s lack of literacy when it comes to Palestine stems from the country’s education system — during history lessons, Palestine was never mentioned, he explains.
“They still think that it's a religious matter. They think it’s an equal war between Israel and Hamas. They have never thought that it's a kind of occupation; they think this just started after October 7,” Danny Jin tells The New Arab.
He continues, "I went to Japanese elementary school, and junior and high school and there was just a small section on one page saying there’s a problem between Israel and Palestine because of religion.”
Danny Jin’s anger at the ongoing atrocities in Gaza and his irritation at the Japanese people’s lack of awareness is translated into his music.
The song Anger is about his frustration at the disinformation about Palestine presented by major mainstream outlets like the BBC and CNN.
He says the song enabled him to channel his anger and dismay and after making the song he had a clearer picture of the type of peace he wants for Palestinians. This culminated in the production of the song Peace.
“I want there to be no discrimination. People make a difference between peace and quiet. For example, Palestine, is under occupation, right? And when Hamas or Palestinians resist, people say they are breaking the peace,” he explains.
“But no, it’s under occupation, and it seems like it's peace and quiet, but it's not. They are under occupation and discrimination; they don't have rights. And I don't want to call that peace. So, Japanese people misunderstand that [the situation in Palestine].”
This summer, Danny Jin released the song Boycott. For weeks he has been attending pro-Palestine protests in Tokyo. He says the protests are nowhere as big as those in Europe, with the largest protest in Japan being 5,000 people, but by attending the protests, he learned about the concept of boycotting companies with links to Israel.
In 2022, Japan was the eighth largest trading country with Israel, however, those investments have dropped since October 2023.
By the end of 2023, Japan had invested $662 million as opposed to $1.55 billion in 2022 and $3 billion in 2021. Japanese companies have cited the ongoing violence in Gaza as the reason.
It was also at a protest that Danny Jin met a music producer who agreed to make his song Boycott, in which Danny raps the names of all the companies funding Israel.
They shot the music video with pro-Palestine protestors following a protest.
Danny says Japanese people’s reaction to his music has been encouraging. He reveals that in Japan, people do not agree with political art and tend to stay apolitical.
He classifies his music as resistance music, yet even his apolitical friends have told him they enjoy listening to his music and some have even started to attend protests as a result.
[Instagram @dannyjin_hojicha]
“A lot of people say my songs are really easy to sing and chant at protests. Many of my friends are non-political, but they listened and said it was really cool. I am not sure whether or not after listening to them they are now boycotting, but at least I can inform them through my music,” he adds.
“For Japanese people, resistance music is something really rare.”
Growing up, Danny Jin says he feels his upbringing was more Japanese than Palestinian and his Palestinian part unfortunately held little sway.
But something has changed recently – since October 2023, his father has started opening up to him about his family’s history and slowly but surely, Danny feels their household starting to have more of a Palestinian influence. They’ve been going to Arabic restaurants regularly and Danny is exploring Palestinian hip-hop.
“Only recently my father told me really specific stuff,” he says.
“It was a big surprise; I didn’t know it was tough like this, moving and moving, becoming refugees after 1967 and after that having to leave Kuwait. I was really shocked at how hard a time my family had.
"But at the same time, I was also proud of my father and his brothers and sisters because they have made a success and I feel grateful to my father because until this point I didn’t know about my family being refugees. I feel grateful that I have grown up in a good environment.”
Danny has never been to Palestine; even with a Japanese passport he says he is certain Israeli authorities would hold him for questioning because of his Palestinian surname.
But he plans to return once Palestine is free and he has no plans to stop rapping about Palestine, even once a permanent ceasefire comes into place in Gaza.
His experience of rapping about Palestine has encouraged him to start making music about a range of different socio-political topics.
He adds, “I hope Japanese companies stop investing in Israel and that Japanese people become more educated about Palestine.
"For that to happen, we have to protest; that's the biggest reason we're doing these demonstrations. At the end of the day, we have to be the ones to change this problem that the Japanese society has."
Yousra Samir Imran is a British Egyptian writer and author based in Yorkshire. She is the author of Hijab and Red Lipstick, published by Hashtag Press
Follow her on X: @UNDERYOURABAYA