En
Register Log in
  1. Main
  2. Journal "Ethnic culture"
  3. Vol 7, No 1
  4. Islam in Japan in a Contemporary Paradigm

Islam in Japan in a Contemporary Paradigm

Research Article
EDN: FRLHZN DOI: 10.31483/r-126843
Open Access
International academic journal «Ethnic Culture». Volume 7
Creative commons logo
Published in:
International academic journal «Ethnic Culture». Volume 7
Author:
Aleksandra-Megumi Ogi 1
Work direction:
Ethnography, Ethnology and Anthropology
Pages:
8-14
Received: 17 February 2025 / Accepted: 9 March 2025 / Published: 10 March 2025

Rating:
Article accesses:
285
Published in:
doaj РИНЦ
1 St Petersburg University
For citation:
Ogi A. (2025). Islam in Japan in a Contemporary Paradigm. Ethnic Culture, 7(1), 8-14. EDN: FRLHZN. https://doi.org/10.31483/r-126843
UDC 28(520)

Abstract

The article examines the development of Islam in Japan from Noda Masataro – the first Japanese to convert to Islam in 1891 in the Ottoman Empire, to the present day. Particular attention is paid to the coverage of Japan’s Islamic policy in 1930–1945, and how Islam is understood by the Japanese through the prism of Shintoism and Buddhism. There is currently a growing number of Japanese Muslims. It is noteworthy that most of them are women married to Muslims, but the Japanese themselves, mostly young intellectuals, are beginning to embrace Islam. There are also second-generation Muslims in Japan, those who have one or both parents who are Muslim. One of the parents may be a foreigner. In this case, such people face problems of identity and the ability to integrate into traditional Japanese society. One of the main problems of Japanese Muslims is the problem of burial according to the Muslim tradition, since in Japan, cremation is mostly chosen in such cases. In general, Japanese citizens are religiously tolerant and measures have been taken by the authorities to maintain such sentiments and this despite the growing Islamophobic sentiments in Europe and America, which may sow fear among the Japanese against Muslims.

References

  1. 1. Komura, A. (2015). Japanese spirituality seen from the history of Islam in Japan. Language, Culture, and Communication: Journal of the Faculty of the College of Intercultural Communication, 7, 199–215.
  2. 2. Komura, A. (2016). The Japanese Acceptance of Islam: The Japanese Islamic Association and "Mahayana Islam"., 150–155. Religion and the Modern World. Naoki Watanabe.
  3. 3. Komura, A. (2021). Six Articles of Faith and Four Pillars of Islam: How the Japanese once understood Islam language, culture, and communication. Language, Culture and Communication: Journal of the Faculty of the College of Intercultural Communication, 13, 83–101.
  4. 4. Shimada, H. (2018). Believe in AI or believe in God (Shodensha Shinsho)., 248.
  5. 5. Chen, J. (2018). Islamic Modernism in China: Chinese Muslim Elites, Guomindang Nation-Building, and the Limits of the Global Umma, 1900–1960: Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences., 287. New York: Columbia University.

Comments(0)

When adding a comment stipulate:
  • the relevance of the published material;
  • general estimation (originality and relevance of the topic, completeness, depth, comprehensiveness of topic disclosure, consistency, coherence, evidence, structural ordering, nature and the accuracy of the examples, illustrative material, the credibility of the conclusions;
  • disadvantages, shortcomings;
  • questions and wishes to author.