I doubt it's an organized effort. If people wanted to attack Jews in Japan, there's lots better ways to do it than vandalizing a few library books.

I'm not so sure its an "organized" effort, based on the info provided. Mertro Tokyo is big, yes, but its all connected with mass transit. A single person could have done it. Unless someone can show that the pages were ripped within a short time period - short enough that a single person riding on the bus or train couldn't have done it - I'll reserve judgement on whether it was "organized".

Yes, it does appear organized. It may be the work of Nihon Sekigun (or one of its recent splinters), a pro-Communist, militant Japanese group, founded by Fusako Shigenobu in 1971 in Lebanon (with close ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine). In May of 1972, Nihon Sekigun was responsible for a terrorist attack on Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport), killing 26 persons and injuring 80 others.

Though Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion have been Japanese bestsellers for decades, there’s enough historical evidence to suggest that whatever feelings the Japanese have concerning Jews, anti-Semitism plays a minor part if any (Tokaya and Swartz, The Fugu Plan: The Untold Story of the Japanese and the Jews During World War II. Paddington Press. ASIN: B000KA6NWO).

“As World War II intensified, the Nazis stepped up pressure on Japan to hand over the Shanghai Jews. Warren Kozak describes the episode when the Japanese military governor of the city sent for the Jewish community leaders. The delegation included Amshinover rabbi Shimon Sholom Kalish. The Japanese governor was curious and asked "Why do the Germans hate you so much?"

"Without hesitation and knowing the fate of his community hung on his answer, Reb Kalish told the translator (in Yiddish): "Zugim weil wir senen orientalim — Tell him [the Germans hate us] because we are Orientals." The governor, whose face had been stern throughout the confrontation, broke into a slight smile. In spite of the military alliance, he did not accede to the German demand and the Shanghai Jews were never handed over" (Kozak, Warren. The Rabbi of 84th Street: The Extraordinary Life of Haskel Besser, Harper Collins, 2004, ISBN 0-06-051101-X p.177).

We should also mention the amazing story of Japanese Council to Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara. He and his wife, against orders of his government, issued thousands of visas to Jews at great risk.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/sugihara.html

Antisemitism may not not be the only motivator here. If you look at Japanese popular culture, you have to note how fixated it is on young females, on the quality of moi, on innocence, on guileless childish behaviour. On everything not male, let alone masculine........

So this may be a protest not solely on Israel's claim to the West Bank, but also against the 'herbiviorisation' of Japanese youth culture....'>>......

This is very odd. Japan's readers may be fascinated by Anne Frank's story but Japan itself has never been an area where Judaism was an issue, pro or con. By and large, Japanese are secular and have been quite open to other religions in their communities.
Why would some group want to damage copies of the diary?
Could this just be a nation-wide flash mob kind of thing?

European Christians were depicted with classic Anti-Semitic imagery in the run up to WW2. The Japanese have always hated Jews.

Yeah, there aren't many Jews there, has to be the work of a small group, trying to make the Japanese look bad -- maybe North Koreans.

Didn't a Japanese terrorist group shoot up an airport in Israel in the 1970s?

It did indeed. If I recall correctly, it was the Japanese Red Army allied with a Palestinian faction. 1972 I think.

I was just a wee one when it happened, but I learned about it in a college class about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. IIRC, the Japanese were allied with the PFLP (there's an article about it and Oxfam on the board today).

I think I remember that -- I believe it was kind of a sub-contract job rather than a Japanese anti-Zionist group.

Lefties back then were pretty much aligned across the globe.

And still are.

Good God, don't these people have more important things to worry about, like, for instance, China invading certain islands??

The world is getting increasingly dangerous for Jews, and yet, at least in the United States, they ally themselves with and vote for people who would do them harm.

I know this has been discussed ad nauseum, but it still baffles the mind why this is so.

Because like Capt Ahab they are blinded by their hatred of Christendom, and wish to see it dismantled and disempowered.....even it if means their own destruction.

Once the Progressive Utopia is complete, all the old prejudices will be gone and the Jews will be safe and have pet unicorns.

If you start with pygmy goats that have horns closer to each other than most, and breed carefully (you don't want to inbreed like a Danish giraffe, after all), you could come up with unicorns for pets. There was a fellow doing this surgically some years ago.
As a bonus, they'd be kosher for Jews and halaal for Muslims...

For the same reason so many Christians voted for a man who holds their deepest beliefs in open contempt, his occasional attendence at church notwithstanding. Their politics trumps their religion.

I'm Christian, and I never voted for Obama. Heck, the fact he was pro-Abortion alone crossed him off of who to vote for back in 2008, and his actions in the first term only solidified that he shouldn't have been made president. This was all long before I discovered he was even socialist/communist/Marxist.