Shafaqna English- As Muslim communities grow in Japan, prayer spaces and burials emerged as a point of contention in local elections.
As the number of foreign residents continues to rise, local communities are increasingly encountering different cultures and customs. Professor Emeritus Hirofumi Tanada of Waseda University, a specialist in Japan’s Muslim communities, estimates that approximately 360,000 foreign Muslim residents were living in Japan as of the end of 2024. That is roughly double the number recorded four years earlier.
In contrast, Islamic practice requires the burial of the dead, yet in Japan, where cremation accounts for nearly all funerals, there are only around ten cemeteries that permit Islamic burials.
As the Muslim population continues to grow, demand for burial sites has increased accordingly. Securing the consent of local residents, however, has proven difficult, and the issue has increasingly emerged as a point of contention in local elections.
Sources: Japan Forward
Islamophobia surges in Japan