Japan’s 17th most populous city is home to a thriving Muslim community. Muhammad Shuwekh speaks with a local Muslim community leader to learn more about life in the Japanese prefecture.
The tomes of history seldom touch upon the interaction between the Islamic world and Japan. The earliest records narrate the rare interactions of a sole Muslim proselytiser and diplomatic missions sent from the Ottoman Empire. But among the dubious and dramatic tales of Japans interaction with the Muslim world, one quote stands out.
“East of China are the lands of Waqwaq, which are so rich in gold that the inhabitants make the chains for their dogs and the collars for their monkeys of this metal. They manufacture tunics woven with gold”
The words of Muslim cartographer Ibn Khordadbeh paint a dreamy picture of what may be 9th century imperial Japan and while carrying out research for this article, I often contemplated what Ibn Khordadbeh would have made of Japan’s ultra-modern society centuries later. Unlike neighbouring nations such as China and Indonesia, Islam has never found a native footing in the nation, perhaps owing to its isolated geography.
Despite this it has developed into its own uniquely wondrous community - a nation transformed post WW2 into a technologically advanced, vending machine obsessed, world-leading G20 economy. Whether Ibn Khordadbeh’s descriptions were tinged with a hint of hyperbole remains to be seen but his vivid narrations caused me to reflect on what he would have made of Japan 2020, or moreover what he would have made of the possibility of his brothers in faith settling down in the land of the rising sun.
Khordadbeh was an ethnic Persian from what records can tell, a land around four thousand miles from Japan, however, three thousand miles further west in the North African state of Morocco - my present-day interlocutor was born. In the process of learning about Islam in Japan, I came across Yassine a Morrocan born resident of Shizuoka.
Yassine moved from the US to Japan with his small family for slightly different reasons to roving explorer Ibn Khordadbeh; he is a professor at a university and also serves as the lead representative of the Japan Dahwa Foundation. I was keen to speak with him about his community’s experiences in Japan and what life was like for the estimated 40,000 minority Muslim population. Family commitments and new job opportunities lead him to the land of the rising sun, he explains:
“I have been living in Japan for 13 years now, you never quite get the language down you get the basics but it’s a very deep language you’re learning every day. To read the newspaper, you need to learn at least 4000 kanjis! The Muslims in Japan are first-generation we aren’t into the second generation yet. We are mostly made up of Indonesians, Pakistanis and Turkish among other nationalities, Arabs are perhaps the smallest number and we have a small portion of Japanese converts of whom most are women I would say 90% are women converts.
Most of the Muslim community in Japan are blue-collar workers, they were brought to work in factories and you have a small portion of business type people; Pakistanis dealing in the used car business. The issue is that the job profiles are not as diversified as in other places, when Japans economy is not doing so well it reflects on donations in the mosques [laughs].”
The Muslim community praying in congregation while on a trip to a local park.
With an emerging population of Muslims both native and ex-pat the future of Islam in the country is still in its earliest phases. The city of Shizuoka where Yassine is based is the seventeenth most populous city in Japan and so in a country where Islam is even alien in the capital; Tokyo one can appreciate the unique challenges his community may face.
“The number of Muslims in the whole country is about 100,000, in a population of about 26 million people, it’s not even a ‘minority’. In some cities in Europe, you have over 100,000 Muslims. The Muslims of Japan live in three major cities, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. In the case of Shizuoka, we have around 700 Muslims.”
The Japanese Muslim experience is one that is a ‘minority within a minority’ meaning assimilation can be a difficult task. Due to a strong push for secularisation after the fall of the Japanese Imperial state religion has often been understood as a private matter among the Japanese. This can pose a challenge for adherents of the Islamic faith who still consider their religion as a guiding principle in everyday life. Muslims understand the importance of Dawah (proselytization) but considering cultural sensitivities are also very important.
“In Japan religion is something taboo, they don’t feel comfortable talking about it in public – so the way we do our Dawah activities is we try to represent the cultural aspects of Islam, we invite them for a Halal cooking or calligraphy class. Once they make that first step, they feel more comfortable to take that second step and learn about our religion. But when you do a seminar about Islam (or religion in general) people are a bit reluctant.”
Japanese women trying on Islamic garments at a stall.
“After their defeat [in WW2] they wanted to remove religion from all parts of life. The most important thing was to work and build. Although Japan has a lot of good things, they also have a lot of issues too like suicide; they have one of the highest rates of suicides in the world almost 30,000 a year, they have the issue of villages being deserted and elderly people being neglected, these are issues we think Islam can definitely bring some solutions for. “
Japanese culture also brings up various other challenges, including the tendency of Japanese people to be reserved when expressing their disagreements.
“Privacy is something important for Japanese, even modesty is a part of the culture. You never know what they truly have in their mind. Whenever we have a seminar at a university, we always try to present them surveys at the end to get their true feedback and the reaction you get from the seminar and the surveys are always different”
“The struggle is to dine out, it’s very difficult to go with our families, so usually, we are stuck to one or two spots.”
Our conversation naturally swayed towards the great equaliser, the desire for good food. I wondered how the 700-small community stuck by Halal dietary guidelines in the land of Kobe beef and delectable sushi.
“When I came here 13 years ago, it was a huge problem, it was like a desert! But alhamdulillah little by little we can buy halal food not only in halal places but also in Japanese supermarkets.”
But finding a good Halal restaurant proves to be a tougher proposition: “The struggle is to dine out, it’s very difficult to go with our families, so usually, we are stuck to one or two spots. But with dining at home, it’s not an issue. Our organisation also helps to certify organisations as ‘halal friendly’ but it’s quite an issue, especially for visitors who can’t read the language. That’s the reason why we want to open a halal restaurant in our Islamic centre, InshaAllah.”
There is also strong progress being made in providing public places for prayer. Yassine expounds further: “There is a huge effort in Japan to make Mussalahs (prayer spaces) all over the place, there are prayer spaces at the local airports, even businesses try to open a few prayer rooms to attract Muslim tourists.”
The mediums in which the Muslims of Japan deliver the message of Islam is also something Shizuoka’s Muslim community has to consider. Our conversation eventually turned to Manga ‘comics’ or ‘graphic novels’ a niche hobby in the western world but an art form that has existed in Japanese popular culture for millennia. Yassine explained to me that till this day they influence how Japanese citizens take in information.
“A lot of our elders try to translate [Islamic] books, but somehow it doesn’t click. The way they [Japanese] learn things is through manga. In Japan, Manga is something that people from all ages not just kids but also adults use, if you want to give them a better understanding of Islam we as Muslims must think about entering this world of manga and introducing Islam through this vehicle otherwise it would be very difficult to reach the Japanese public.”
Referencing his youth in North Africa watching the famed ‘Captian Majid’ known as Kyaputen Tsubasa in Japan he seemed to value the importance of creating engaging educational content for his newly adopted countrymen and how the creation of a new genre could benefit the entire Ummah. As he described his long-term vision for their projects, my mind swayed towards envisaging the immense benefit a Muslim run manga industry could bring.
“We have already made our first attempt, it’s another reason we want to build this Islamic centre, we want to make sure it has a Waqf (charitable endowment) and income to work on projects like this. We believe it will not only impact the Japanese but also on our kids back home in the Muslim world.”
The mosque project he mentions is ambitious, but one that would transform the lived reality for the 700 strong Muslim community in Shizuoka. The idea began when members of their community began realising that Muslim prayer spaces were often divided in terms of nationality, the ‘Shizuoka Muslim Association’ was formed in 2010 with the main aim of unifying the Muslims within the city.
A diversity of Musiims attending congregational prayers in Shizouka.
“Little by little we collected some money to build a masjid and during that process, we rented office space for use as a prayer space. We also went around Japan to learn about other mosques and the challenges they faced. We realised that most of the mosques are built by first-generation Muslims and we realised that the mosques are built in a way that reminds them of mosques they have back home so if you’re a Pakistani you want a mosque that reminds you of Karachi or if you are Indonesian you want to build a mosque that reminds you of Indonesia. Unfortunately, those kinds of mosques don’t work in Japan it’s very difficult to invite Japanese to them.”
“We hope to include masjid facilities for brothers and sisters and alongside that, we will include a halal restaurant, some shops, a conference room and also rooms for residents and visitors as well as a kitchen studio. That will be a source of income. We want this place to not only be a place for Muslims but we want it to be a place that is constantly busy”
Islam is like water - any container can hold it. When it comes to Islam in Japan the way I see it is that we as Muslims have a huge responsibility.
Concluding our cross-continental conversation, as a “Western” born Muslim I was interested in understanding how Muslims were viewed by the wider Japanese population, do the Muslims of Japan face the same stigma that many European Muslims feel?
An Iftar event explaining the meaning behind Ramadan to Japanese attendees.
“Because of our small numbers they don’t see us as a threat – they see Islam as a foreign thing that’s why we insist that this will be the first Japanese designed masjid because we want to show them that the message of Islam is like water - any container can hold it. When it comes to Islam in Japan the way I see it is that we as Muslims have a huge responsibility. Our role as Muslims is to convince the Japanese that they don’t have to fear us.”
“Muslims can be of added value so if they decide to open immigration to Indonesia, for example, the numbers will increase and the numbers of Muslims will grow exponentially InshaAllah. Once the Japanese get to know Muslims we can become good friends, but the first hurdle is talking to a Muslim. One we break that wall we can become good friends, so that’s what we try to do we show them they don’t have to fear us.”
After ending our call on an optimistic tone and gladly noting Yassines warm invitation to visit Japan, I felt a sense of connection with his community, they were undoubtedly a part of my global Muslim family but were situated in a totally foreign part of the globe.
Our interview was conducted quite a while back and it seems the community has made strong progress on their plans, you can check out all their latest developments over on their Facebook page and help support their work.
Author: Muhammad Yousuf Shuwekh
