Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, there have been an increasing number of reports that foreign residents living in areas with prominent international communities in Japan are being subject to discrimination and hateful remarks.

A 22-year-old Indian student at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University was targeted in a verbal attack while walking around Beppu Station, Oita Prefecture, in the middle of August.

“Sh---- foreigner, corona,” a Japanese man apparently in his 30s said, standing with two others.