topspin
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His understanding mostly lies with Misbah
-
Contact the PP Team
Islamophobia Watch
- Thread starter Varun
- Start date
His understanding mostly lies with Misbah
BunnyRabbit
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i am more pakistani than you'll ever be. probably have spent a decade more in pakistan. stop brushing everyone with indian paint. :/
finalfantasy7
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Sikh Woman Targeted in Islamoph@bic Attack in the UK | Indians Abroad | Racism
@Champ_Pal @Vikram1989 @Rajdeep @Hitman @uppercut @straighttalk @globetrotter
finalfantasy7
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FULL SPEECH: Zohran Mamdani’s Defiant Message Against Islamophobia in America | AC1G
@uppercut @Champ_Pal @Hitman @Vikram1989 @globetrotter
So even Japanese are Islamophobes....... 
Plans to build a mosque in Fujisawa, a city southwest of Tokyo, have become the latest flashpoint for Muslim communities in Japan, as a growing need for places of worship meets resistance from some local residents.
Muslim community leaders and scholars say the opposition in Fujisawa reflects a broader pattern in Japan, where resistance to mosques has increasingly been shaped by negative overseas coverage of Islam and claims spread on social media.
A public meeting in February called to allow local residents in Fujisawa to ask questions of the group seeking to build the mosque turned ugly, according to media reports, with around 200 residents jeering or shouting down comments from the mosque association.
The association launched a website in January to answer concerns, explaining what a mosque – or masjid – is and the religious and social functions that it performs. The site also addresses concerns over noise and traffic initiatives being taken to minimise the impact on the surrounding community.
“We want to continue living together with everyone, respecting the local community and adhering to Japanese laws and local rules.”
Despite the offers of dialogue, some local residents remained unconvinced, saying the mosque association should have disclosed more details earlier and suggesting the lack of information had fuelled suspicion about the project.
According to the association, an initial application to build a prayer hall was submitted in April 2025 and approved by the Fujisawa city government in July.
In the autumn, however, an online petition was started against the development, with 30,000 people expressing their opposition and calling for measures to “protect regional security and living conditions”.
This Week in Asia has reached out to the mosque association for comment.
Seiji Matsui, a convert to Islam since 2000 and now vice-president of the Ishikawa Prefecture Muslim Society, was instrumental in the construction of a mosque in the north coast prefecture in 2013 and said he was ready to offer advice to the Fujisawa association.
But Matsui admitted that life was becoming more difficult for Muslims in Japan.
“We were using a rented house at first but needed a bigger space for a masjid,” Matsui said in an interview. “Purchasing the land was not a problem, but people living nearby started to protest when we tried to build a masjid.
“It is very unfortunate, because most people in Japan do not know about Islam and they are afraid because of what they have heard on the media,” he said. “Virtually everything that you read about Islam in European or US media is negative. There is no alternative viewpoint at all.”
Members of the Muslim community in Japan hold placards with Palestinian flags during a rally in support of Palestinians near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo in 2023. Photo: Reuters
Matsui, 52, who works for a manufacturing company, said he held local meetings to explain the proposal, meet residents and respond to their concerns one by one.
The process was long and laborious, he said, but over time he was able to win over some sceptics.
The mosque opened in 2013 and now has around 200 worshippers on weekends.
While relations with the local community were largely calm and respectful, Matsui said events beyond the control of Muslims in the prefecture could still trigger a backlash.
Yo Nonaka, an associate professor at Keio University who studies the lives of Muslims in Japan, said life in the country for immigrants was becoming more challenging.
“The history of Muslims in Japan is quite short, with the first arrivals in the late 1980s,” she said. “Until recently, there had never been a problem because the number of Muslims was relatively low and they were not very visible, but that has changed since the population here began to grow rapidly in recent years.”
There are an estimated 450,000 Muslims at present in Japan, which has a total population of 122.5 million. The largest group is from Indonesia, followed by Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Malaysians and Turks.
The total number of Muslims includes around 50,000 Japanese converts, and there are around 160 mosques across Japan at present.
“I sensed a change in the atmosphere towards Muslims around the middle of last year,” Nonaka said. “This has happened as more communities have tried to build mosques and political groups called for ‘Make Japan First’ policies and slogans.
“Those messages have spread widely on social media and have inspired some people to share those slogans even further and increase opposition,” she said, pointing to hate speech complaints against a Muslim group attempting to establish a mosque in Yokohama’s Asahi ward.
Khan Muhammad Tahir Abbas, head of the Beppu Muslim Association in Kyushu, has been campaigning for permission to open a graveyard for Muslims in southern Japan and is familiar with the high hurdles that need to be overcome.
Yet he remains optimistic.
Professor Khan Muhammad Tahir Abbas, head of the Beppu Muslim Association in Japan, hopes to secure approval in the town of Hiji to establish a cemetery where Muslims could be laid to rest. Photo: Khan Muhammad Tahir Abbas
“If local Japanese people have a valid reason for not having a mosque in a certain area, such as if it is close to a Japanese shrine, then that is fine and the mosque should be built somewhere else. If people really feel that strongly, then we must be flexible,” he said.
“We do not want Japanese people to see Muslims as a threat to their way of life. It is very important that we have good relationships with the people we live alongside and if that means finding an alternative site for a mosque, then that is what we have to do.”
Abbas agreed that negative media coverage of Muslims in Europe and other parts of the world had helped fuel objections to Muslim communities in Japan but said he was confident the situation would improve.
“There is misunderstanding, and there is anti-Muslim hatred all over the world, and we must do whatever we can to change that,” he said. “But, on the other hand, I have observed more and more Japanese smiling and nodding and saying ‘hello’ to me as I pass them on the street. It may take time, but it can get better.”
www.scmp.com
Plans to build a mosque in Fujisawa, a city southwest of Tokyo, have become the latest flashpoint for Muslim communities in Japan, as a growing need for places of worship meets resistance from some local residents.
Muslim community leaders and scholars say the opposition in Fujisawa reflects a broader pattern in Japan, where resistance to mosques has increasingly been shaped by negative overseas coverage of Islam and claims spread on social media.
A public meeting in February called to allow local residents in Fujisawa to ask questions of the group seeking to build the mosque turned ugly, according to media reports, with around 200 residents jeering or shouting down comments from the mosque association.
The association launched a website in January to answer concerns, explaining what a mosque – or masjid – is and the religious and social functions that it performs. The site also addresses concerns over noise and traffic initiatives being taken to minimise the impact on the surrounding community.
“We want to continue living together with everyone, respecting the local community and adhering to Japanese laws and local rules.”
Despite the offers of dialogue, some local residents remained unconvinced, saying the mosque association should have disclosed more details earlier and suggesting the lack of information had fuelled suspicion about the project.
According to the association, an initial application to build a prayer hall was submitted in April 2025 and approved by the Fujisawa city government in July.
In the autumn, however, an online petition was started against the development, with 30,000 people expressing their opposition and calling for measures to “protect regional security and living conditions”.
This Week in Asia has reached out to the mosque association for comment.
Seiji Matsui, a convert to Islam since 2000 and now vice-president of the Ishikawa Prefecture Muslim Society, was instrumental in the construction of a mosque in the north coast prefecture in 2013 and said he was ready to offer advice to the Fujisawa association.
But Matsui admitted that life was becoming more difficult for Muslims in Japan.
“We were using a rented house at first but needed a bigger space for a masjid,” Matsui said in an interview. “Purchasing the land was not a problem, but people living nearby started to protest when we tried to build a masjid.
“It is very unfortunate, because most people in Japan do not know about Islam and they are afraid because of what they have heard on the media,” he said. “Virtually everything that you read about Islam in European or US media is negative. There is no alternative viewpoint at all.”
Members of the Muslim community in Japan hold placards with Palestinian flags during a rally in support of Palestinians near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo in 2023. Photo: Reuters
Matsui, 52, who works for a manufacturing company, said he held local meetings to explain the proposal, meet residents and respond to their concerns one by one.
The process was long and laborious, he said, but over time he was able to win over some sceptics.
The mosque opened in 2013 and now has around 200 worshippers on weekends.
While relations with the local community were largely calm and respectful, Matsui said events beyond the control of Muslims in the prefecture could still trigger a backlash.
Yo Nonaka, an associate professor at Keio University who studies the lives of Muslims in Japan, said life in the country for immigrants was becoming more challenging.
“The history of Muslims in Japan is quite short, with the first arrivals in the late 1980s,” she said. “Until recently, there had never been a problem because the number of Muslims was relatively low and they were not very visible, but that has changed since the population here began to grow rapidly in recent years.”
There are an estimated 450,000 Muslims at present in Japan, which has a total population of 122.5 million. The largest group is from Indonesia, followed by Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Malaysians and Turks.
The total number of Muslims includes around 50,000 Japanese converts, and there are around 160 mosques across Japan at present.
“I sensed a change in the atmosphere towards Muslims around the middle of last year,” Nonaka said. “This has happened as more communities have tried to build mosques and political groups called for ‘Make Japan First’ policies and slogans.
“Those messages have spread widely on social media and have inspired some people to share those slogans even further and increase opposition,” she said, pointing to hate speech complaints against a Muslim group attempting to establish a mosque in Yokohama’s Asahi ward.
Khan Muhammad Tahir Abbas, head of the Beppu Muslim Association in Kyushu, has been campaigning for permission to open a graveyard for Muslims in southern Japan and is familiar with the high hurdles that need to be overcome.
Yet he remains optimistic.
Professor Khan Muhammad Tahir Abbas, head of the Beppu Muslim Association in Japan, hopes to secure approval in the town of Hiji to establish a cemetery where Muslims could be laid to rest. Photo: Khan Muhammad Tahir Abbas
“If local Japanese people have a valid reason for not having a mosque in a certain area, such as if it is close to a Japanese shrine, then that is fine and the mosque should be built somewhere else. If people really feel that strongly, then we must be flexible,” he said.
“We do not want Japanese people to see Muslims as a threat to their way of life. It is very important that we have good relationships with the people we live alongside and if that means finding an alternative site for a mosque, then that is what we have to do.”
Abbas agreed that negative media coverage of Muslims in Europe and other parts of the world had helped fuel objections to Muslim communities in Japan but said he was confident the situation would improve.
“There is misunderstanding, and there is anti-Muslim hatred all over the world, and we must do whatever we can to change that,” he said. “But, on the other hand, I have observed more and more Japanese smiling and nodding and saying ‘hello’ to me as I pass them on the street. It may take time, but it can get better.”
Mosque disputes expose tensions over Japan’s growing Muslim communities
Muslim leaders say local opposition has been fuelled by negative overseas coverage of Islam and claims circulating online.
www.scmp.com
Cpt. Rishwat
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They clearly are Islamophobes, in the truest sense of the word.
From the article itself:
He is more or less saying Japs have adopted their Islamophobia from the zionist-led western media.
From the article itself:
He is more or less saying Japs have adopted their Islamophobia from the zionist-led western media.
globetrotter
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Nobody challenged this post means these TCS jihadi muslims should be punished hard. All pak posters agrres with my views
Now Maharashtra government will punish them hard....
these jihadis muslims property will be confiscated... their residence will be bulldoze...
@emranabbas, @Bhaag Viru Bhaag, @HalBass9, @Cpt. Rishwat
globetrotter
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He still not witnessed wrath of Trump...
rpant_gabba
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Increase in Airline prices? Islamophobia!
Local.Dada
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finalfantasy7
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im sure when they met it was trump who actually stated he admired mamdani and he praised him,
try to read globe, its good for you
Vikram1989
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In grooming?
Local.Dada
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