"Muslim Society in Japan" A lecture at Tehran University by a member of JICA Iran Office (May 15th 2023)

On May 15th, 2023, a lecture on "Muslim Society in Japan" was delivered by a staff member of JICA Iran Office at Faculty of World Studies of Tehran University. About 20 students and staff from Japan studies department and outside the university participated in the seminar.

Since 1980’s, the Muslim population in Japan has been increasing and according to the studies, it is estimated that over 200,000 Muslims are living in Japan recently. The number of Muslim tourists visiting Japan is also increasing, making opportunities for Japanese people to communicate with Muslims more than ever.

In the lecture, background of Japanese religions, history of Muslims in Japan, and activities of Mosque in Japan were introduced. Moreover, problems the Muslim society in Japan are facing were discussed.

For example, at Japanese schools, school lunch may include some ingredients that Muslims avoid to eat such as pork. In this case the parents need to negotiate with schools to allow their children to bring their own lunch box. School uniforms also can be a problem especially for teenage girls because girl’s uniform is usually skirt at Japanese schools, which Muslim parents hesitate to allow their daughters to wear. The idea of gender equality could be a possible solution to this problem. In some schools, all the students can choose skirts or pants, regardless of gender, to promote gender equality.

During the Q&A session, participants raised many interesting questions, such as questions about the cemetery matter, bullying at school etc., and showed their strong interests in the theme. We hope participants have got some insight about another aspect of the Japanese society which is rarely visible to the people of the world.