A Japanese town wrestles with identity after protests over its first mosque

Businessman Mohamed Mohideen has lived in Osaka for the past 39 years. He moved from his home country Sri Lanka in 1987 for better work opportunities during the economic bubble.

He has dealt gemstones and later worked in trade, exporting used cars to countries like Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

He moved at a time, he says, when there were far fewer foreign residents.

But Mohideen feels that compared to back then, local people have become hostile and started making hurtful remarks at Muslims, both online and in person.

“On social media, there are countless comments like, ‘Get out of Japan’ and ‘Go back to your own country,'” Mohideen said. “People have also started coming to the mosque and shouting abuse.”

Mohideen goes to the Osaka mosque every day for prayers and other duties as a member of the local Islamic community. He says he has never felt that his life was in danger.

Despite having good relationships with neighbours for many years, Mohideen has noticed the shift in attitude towards Muslims more recently.

“Now, I feel that people are afraid of us.”

The verbal abuse has worsened in recent years. He recalled members of his Muslim community being called terrorists, accused of making bombs, and being told to get out of Japan.

“When that happens, the only thing we can do is be patient. They’re trying to provoke a fight or create a confrontation. They want to see how long we’ll tolerate it,” Mohideen explained.

“So we stay calm, speak gently, and treat them kindly, because Japanese people generally don’t know much about Islam.”

Still, he thinks there is some shared responsibility for the rift.

“We focused only on our work and, for a long time, didn’t make enough effort to help people understand who we are. We also didn’t do enough to become part of the society,” he said.

“From now on, I want to work harder to increase dialogue and build better mutual understanding.”