Why are there no Muslims in Japan?

The question itself is a provocative myth, since there are Muslims in Japan. Islam is practiced by both people who came to work from Asian countries (Pakistanis, Iranians, Indonesians), and native Japanese. There are only a few thousand Japanese Muslims, but they are United in the Federation of Muslims of Japan.

Every year, several Muslims from Japan make a pilgrimage to Mecca (Saudi Arabia). There are 30 mosques in Japan. the oldest one, in Kobo, was built in 1935 by Muslims from the Russian “white emigration”, mostly Tatars. Continue reading →