hello I'm Barno from Uzbekistan I've
been living in Japan for four and a half
years I decided to write to you to
suggest a new video idea many Muslims
are concerned what it is like to live in
Japan was the Japan is a Muslim friendly
country and how Muslims are treated here
Highbar no perhaps you could tell me
more about what the video would be about
what would you say what would you show
Cheers
Gregg in my opinion the video should
include three important points first
Japanese people's attitude towards Islam
and Muslims second halal food in Japan
third working in a Japanese company as a
practicing Muslim high bar no I know
it's been a while I hope you're still
game for making a video together I have
time to shoot this month if you and your
husband have availability Cheers Thanks
so Barnell um you wrote an email to me
many emails you said if you know about
Islam you're probably familiar with its
requirements and restrictions but before
meeting you I didn't really know
anything so what are the things about
Japan that would make or provide
challenges for Muslims living here or
visiting here okay first talking about
some of the basic requirements its
praying 5 times visiting mosque every
Friday eating halal food not drinking
alcohol wearing hijab for females and in
Japan many of these basic points are
quite challenging so what are you making
I'm making mu but it's not I it doesn't
have a name it's just a bunch of
vegetables and I fry them all together
but it's not traditional you spec move
so this is a vegetarian you are very
mature you can make it vegetarian as
well like sometimes I cook it without me
but today I'm going to use chicken
from them chicken I got from Joe they
always satisfied hello meat you can see
and are you not gonna introduce me to
your husband
yeah Shahrazad yes I've been behind the
camera the whole time I am sure sod I'm
also from Pakistan I've been living in
Japan for the past six years as a Muslim
[Music]
for living we also do YouTube we'll have
a channel she does YouTube I do YouTube
that's what we do for living it's quite
fun
hello it's permissible it means so how
about food means food that you can eat
you are permitted to eat by the way
we're trying to consume this meat for
the past three years because that's what
the Prophet peace be upon him did not
anything except for is halal people
believe if you can eat enemy except pork
but any animal that haven't been
slaughtered or that had been slaughtered
for other than God it would mean even a
chicken sheep beef they would all be
non-halal if they hadn't been killed in
the proper manner fish is generally what
saves us in most situations so whenever
we cannot find halal food we usually go
to eating fish would be hello yes that's
another safe area that saves us usually
almost all meals in inspector are in one
pot like you cook in one so what so
usually you just have your one dish if
you go and tell those big people give me
your food they will give you this the
primary problem that we face as a Muslim
is to find halal food because Japan is
largely a non Muslim country if I want
to eat out I
look for how our restaurants so
sometimes it's quite inconvenient this
place offers ramen which is traditional
Japanese food and you can taste it here
and without worrying about its
ingredients because it's how our
certified and also on the second floor
they have prayer room this corner is a
special place for praying but it's very
tiny but better than nothing ok so this
place is closed
in Japan I need to check it all the time
the ingredients for example if I wanna
buy ready food from convenience store or
some supermarkets I need to go through
the ingredients we are now in shin-okubo
station very close station is just 25
meters from here and a lot of halal
shops and let's try to enter this one
excuse me we are making a video about
how long shops in Japan is it okay to
film inside the shop thank you
so this is one of the shops where you
can find a lot of halal products there
are halal meat as well it says it's from
Brazil yes hello also a lot of
foreigners come here to shop for
different spices that you cannot find in
Japanese stores different kinds of
sauces that also can be not halal in
typical Japanese supermarkets if you buy
because they they might have alcohol or
shortenings but here you don't have to
worry about that is the middle also how
long bar no safe yeah I always check for
sign if they don't have sign I asked the
owner or someone who's working there
whether it's halal or not and some say
oh it's chicken it's hell out I don't
trust them because some Muslims think
that if it's chicken if as long as it's
not pork its Hollow
so I tried to find that sign and it's
way I can find I wanted to study in an
international university and when I was
searching for universities I found one
in Japan and that happened to be
rhythmic and Asia Pacific University and
because of scholarship I was able to
come here because I wanted to study in
Japan
the university it had nothing to do with
religion I came here and I loved the
country so much that after graduation I
just decided to stay here and it's
become more like my own country to me
where if I go back to his biggest and
the country where I come from I would be
missing Japan a lot it is obligatory for
all Muslims to pray five times a day
before prayer every Muslim needs to
cleanse themselves and purify their
bodies and that's what we call evolution
the most basics of evolution are that
you must wash your hands you must wash
your face and you must wash your feet
before you pray and make sure that you
are clean to pray now I'm allowed to
pray so there's a tradition from the
Prophet peace be upon him where he says
every time you wash your hands if we
spill every drop of water will wash your
sins once you do ablution once you clean
your body as long as you don't go to the
bottle it means you still have evolution
although so it shows the direction of
the cabin the city of Mecca in Saudi
Arabia the cube-shaped structure towards
which every Muslim faces while they're
paying and it says the prayer for after
the time until the other player is in 50
seconds now in most Muslim houses
there's usually a separate space for
people to make ablution before the
prayer when I'm at home I don't very
heat up and I'm usually in not in motor
schools so when I pray I use this
clothes for praying and it's very
convenient
just put on quickly
it's a big big site it covers my whole
body then I use my cap
we Muslims always wear a cap on our head
just like the Jews do before brain
so this is the Sunnah he's not actually
mandatory to pray this it's not only
directly from God but that's what we
prayed so far is half the prayer but
it's sooner because we do it because the
Prophet peace be upon him did it every
time before praying he prayed even more
what we are going to pray together now
is called fun
it's the obligatory in mandatory prayer
that God directly ordered us in the
Quran and that's why when people pray
fun together they do it in a group more
like the hands in the movements of the
body will be in
Sunday when I came out of the wall I
said every waking second lost lost along
with this so which is directly ordered
from God is finished
yeah the symbolic meaning of frustration
which we call Saturday to win Saturday
is that you submit to the will of God
and the symbolic meaning of leaving the
prayer which is to give greetings to
both sides is there is an understanding
in Islam that on both shoulders there is
two angels who record who are
responsible for recording your actions
during your life and the inside of the
heart the intentions will be just by God
so you're saying that you don't actually
need the pair Roger that's clean yes so
why are you you actually don't need this
pretty Iraq you can pray wherever it's
clean to pray so we use this just
because it has become a habit to us I
mean from an Islamic perspective it
would be quite incomprehensible to to
have no time for prayer because time is
something that you give is a matter of
priority there's nothing else that's
more beloved to God than those prayers
so they have number-one priority most
people have the idea that a prayer must
be create at a certain time but it's
more about the movement of the Sun in
the moon
it's more of an astronomical phenomenon
so when the Sun comes to a certain point
it's time that you must pray one prayer
but it doesn't mean that you must pray
it at that moment for example if the
time for what we call doha comes it one
it can last all the way until five or
four depending on the season so you have
three or four hours to be able to catch
that
in a place like Japan when it's time to
pray the midday prayer we always
struggle to find a place and we end up
praying on the street we always carry
with ourselves a prayer rug we put it
and we pray on top of it but it's also
good news that increasingly Japan is
recognizing this need that Muslims have
so they're facilitating contrary to the
expectations of many there are mosques
in Japan this looks a very regular
building but if you go inside there is a
mosque for Muslim people to pray and
here you can see message it which means
mosque on the fourth floor on other
floors there are different salons and
other kinds of businesses but you can
enter this room it's a praying room okay
so it's not kind of mosque like you you
usually see because mosques usually have
special architecture design but this is
just a building and it's used to pray so
we can also call it mosque I feel very
safe like whenever I see this kind of
places I just enter and pray I don't
look for people to ask permission
because this place is for praying so I
don't have to worry I can just enter and
pray yeah no one is here you get more
rewards if you pray as a group so I
assume that they all come at a certain
time that's why right now there is no
one here have you heard about good deeds
like people try to do so the more good
deeds you do the better for you right
and there are also some small actions
that you may think that's not something
good that you are doing but for example
smiling to another person is also one
way of good deeds for not smiling is
but if you smile when people are praying
for example just like I did now yeah we
are reading the verses of the Quran oh
that's just the recitation of it yes is
it always the same like for the same
time of day no you can choose any what
happens if you can't remember there's no
way you can't remember though at least
one right I don't know I forgot he's all
the time no yeah yeah
imagine forgetting something you recite
five times a day what smells nice
maybe you use something you have to you
have to use what yeah perfume really
well coming to the mosque I did not know
that are you serious it's not a rule
it's not an obligation but you are in
it's like just like somebody I do not
have that just like somebody you have to
wear you know sort of perfume but if you
must smell nice good so because you are
always standing right
and when the mosques are so crowded it's
like I'm always singing like this on
Friday praise when we go we spin like
this
Yeah right there is no not enough space
and when people are touching each other
this close you have to smell good I see
and we use this usually also this is
special this is called Musk this is what
Muslims is yeah
v1f we need to go to the basement
IKEA vara is one of the famous places in
Tokyo a lot of tourists come here for
shopping especially electronics are very
popular there are so many stores and
when they come here it's very good to
have such a prayer room because it's
quite inconvenient to pray in the
streets it's very crowded part of Tokyo
so I'm very happy that they have a
special place for Muslims to pray so now
there is no one here two people can pray
oh there are more prayer much I think
three people can fit in some pray
praying places or Massachusetts you can
see this kind of clothes this is for
wadies you need to have a long dress or
something which is not showing your body
shape so you need to be in a modest
clothes when pray Muslims all have to go
to the mosque on Fridays that's not
something optional that's in obligatory
act of prayer welcome to the biggest
mosque in Japan in Tokyo which is the
Turkish army mosque
in every mosque there is a tower the
purpose of which is to call people to
prayer before the player here notes this
is just to show the tradition so this is
the corner where they have put special
books for those who love reading they
can come so the first book that Muslims
regard is the highest is the Quran and
then these collections of the Prophet
peace be upon him here we have the halal
shop inside the mosque and restroom
where they where Muslims can cleanse
themselves before the prayer all the
products in this market you can see our
branded challah okay this is the halal
sign this is an import from Turkey where
is yes where is this one is Japanese
Wagyu Allah why you I don't know because
I told you in Malaysia in most Muslim
countries they burned everything even
water with hot outside but even this one
there is also a halal sign it would
never be not allowed this pre Iraq is
very interesting in that it's foldable
and it easily fits into your pocket and
it shows the direction of the Kaaba it's
the men's restroom where they make dough
as you can see there are special seats
to facilitate the making our dough and
these are placed so that Muslims have no
problem washing their feet
along
what we just witnessed is the Friday
prayer of Muslims before the prayer Imam
gave a small sermon in four languages
Arabic Japanese Turkish and English so
that everybody in the audience could
understand what the man was saying after
the sermon we started praying the two
mandatory because of Juma prayer
everybody followed the Imam who is the
leader of the Muslim prayer a raka
consists of standing and going to
frustration and after the prayer was
over everybody went downstairs to have a
nice meal together it's encouraged that
after the prayer free food is
distributed to the people who came to
pray and so that they could form a bond
to create a sense of community and it's
also encouraged by the Prophet peace be
upon him to give food to feed people
when they're hungry
one of the nice things living in Japan
is a Muslim is the fact that I
personally get to experience the global
communal feeling living in Japan is more
like living in Mecca in the sense that
in Mecca Muslims come together to
experience not only the prayer and
closeness to God but also the communal
feeling global communal feeling being
together with Muslims from all different
countries my name is Yogi and you're
from I am from Indonesia and I'm
teaching here for about three years this
mosque is built by Indonesian
people in Japan actually this mosque is
built in the government area but people
of Indonesia they rest the fun for built
this mosque so if you can find yeah sure
Pakistani mosque or Indian people are
turkey mosque is okay for us every
mosque is different this one just had to
be fit into the available space I think
that's why since we have to face Mecca
it was made diagonal like this standing
just in this position we are facing the
city of Mecca mosques are not only meant
to be places of worship but also places
of study so you can take any one of them
and read here each mosque has a specific
purpose of putting these boxes for
donation some output so that they can
maintain the mosque this one is meant
for building more mosques in Japan the
money donated into this box will be
given out to those people who are in
need
so zakat in Islam is one of the five
obligatory requirements like ad means
those who reach a certain threshold in
financial terms they will be obligated
to give 140th of their wealth to those
in need every year yes in some parts of
Japan where Muslims are not that many
there is usually not
single mosque in those cases we just
couldn't go to a mosque and pray at home
or pray well wherever we can pray when
it's time to pray
my name is chinchilla and I'm from China
and I came to Japan around three years
ago and currently I work in a
traditional trading company in Japan one
year after I came to Japan become a
Muslim so you can also call me is my
which is my religious name which I like
a lot
Salaam alaikum and good evening and
peace be unto you
everyone my name is Matt Moreno and my
given name as Japanese now okey my you
know I embrace Islam when I was at the
age of eighteen
it's been 26 years now so now you know
my age I've been working in Japanese oil
and gas exploration company and in my
private time voluntarily I'm teaching
outside for adults and kids about Islam
and so on and here in this center of
Japan Muslim Association I'm one of the
five Imams I think the first thing you
have to pay attention to is you have to
really know it's Japanese culture they
know you're a Muslim they respect your
culture but you're just doing your the
things that you like without any
consideration of how other people will
think and then they will cause some
problems it is the matter of
communication skill so if you could
explain beforehand that you are in need
of you know praying or whatever they
would allow you before I started working
in that company I I talked with the CEO
and he actually knows a lot about Muslim
people in Japan because he used to work
with Indonesian like he doesn't know
much about the religion but knows that
we are different but we need to pray we
need to fast so he had that knowledge so
he was more accepting during the
interview they asked me about my
religion and I directly told them on the
spot that I'm a Muslim and that I needed
a praying space in a company so could
you please provide
praying you know Ariel for me and is it
okay we'll think about that and after
discussion this it it's okay so like
what I have now I have a prayer room
what theoretical is a prayer room it is
just a one of the meeting rooms in
vacants meeting rooms or in the
corridors of the you know stairs we
Muslims can pray anywhere except the
dirty places so we can manage it the
challenging point was making evolution
because I didn't know what to do when I
was in need of washing my foot so I was
just praying to God oh please no one
should come because if someone comes and
see me washing my foot would be very
strange-looking and they would surprise
what are you doing you're watching your
foot fot that was challenging but after
coming up with the idea of using the
toilet papers sponge that made that
thing easier um it takes less than 20
minutes each time and if you want to do
it if you want to shorten the period of
time I think around 10 minutes you can
close a prayer and the first time is
during the lunch break I definitely I
pray and if all the conditions are fine
we'll pre another time at around like 3
or 4 p.m. and it depends on the sunset
time so maybe there's a chance that I
will do my third prayer at around 5:00
p.m. or something it depends on the
season one of the thing that I want to
say is during the Ramadan is quite
difficult and everybody is drinking and
eating lounge food besides me while I'm
the only one who doesn't drink at all if
you know what I mean because it's for
God is for Ramadan and if they will ask
why you are doing this while you're
doing that in this period of time I
don't consume any food and water
yes it's kind of difficult but as Muslim
we have strong faith innings you know in
your heart so actually it is the
difficulty that we experience that we
will treasure the water and the resource
of this planet more I think for
lunchtime I had to eat in the office
with
everybody so the meal was provided by
the company and they also considered to
my food restrictions so they were always
cooking the separate meal for me without
pork and without alcohol without
different shortenings
yeah that was also very convenient for
me some days I was informed by the
person who is in charge of meals I
cannot cook a special meal today so can
you bring your own then I will have to
bring by myself what I used to do is to
join the Norma Chi without drinking any
alcohol and people around me will be
like no me enorme which means drink this
drink this and I was like I'm sorry I'm
a Muslim and then they would be like
cute again o mio like just drink today I
was like I'm sorry don't do this to me
but I can't enjoy
I feel happy if I we shared the time or
share the happiness together but there's
a bad mama I don't drink
so please but every time like no matter
how many times I try to explain this to
them they still ask me to drink so much
until like one that I thought okay this
is overwhelming I'm gonna drop this so I
just don't go to any no Mekhi it's a
problem actually I would definitely I
will lose some chance of getting more
connection and interaction with my
coworkers
that's why I was I tried to I don't know
it's a problem actually I'm thinking how
should I get over with this I'm stuck in
this sense I think one of my personal on
suffering that I met was this so during
Ramadan I always wanted to have this on
the top of my head as a religion
religious gesture and this once I tried
publicly and I got shouted by my boss
and he told me it's okay if you can pray
and you do all this religiously related
stuff in that prayer room don't be like
this publicly in the company and I was
like okay sure so since there's a
problem so I have to drop this in the
treating company I think your supplier
wall gets so shocked because sometimes
they just give you random visit if you
are in this status I think the whole
business meeting will be ruined
often the case Japanese
is it's becoming different but they
tends to make clear difference between
having faith in private places and
public day tends to see having faith is
something private difficulties for
yourself I'm sorry I have to correct you
is not difficulty because like I don't
find it difficult your question is how I
came to become a Muslim right people
don't talk religiously in China I felt
empty inside as something wrong like
this emptiness made me to search more
information and finally I got some
chance to know and to learn about Islam
to be short
I think Islam is the correct path for me
to follow and at the same time I feel so
much peaceful inside I think that's one
of the reasons that a lot like Japan a
lot because it's totally religion free I
mean they respect all the religions so
they're fine with that actually there
are two types of foreigners who work in
Japan one type is like me I was trying
I'm trying so hard to understand how
Japanese people think and I adjust
myself into that kind of you know
stereotype I was trying my best to of
course I'm a Muslim but I behave like a
Japanese that's how you gain their trust
but there are some there is another type
of Muslims in Japan they work in the
company but they are behaving like so
foreigner and amicus is not it's it's
not the case so I was trying to follow
my religion at the same time I was
trying to immerse myself into the
Japanese culture so I think the first
you respect Japanese culture and then
they will do the same things back to you
you really have to focus on your work
once you have some good like let's say
positive performance in your job for
example in treating company if your sale
reach the seasonal goal they all think
okay he's a Muslim it doesn't matter
because you know we reach our goal so
this is a way finish your task
professionally to gain the trust and
respect even you are a Muslim just don't
you know screw up with your work
fundamental rules right
I have felt that people treated me
differently not because I'm a Muslim
just because of the fact that I'm a
foreigner just in cases where I have to
pray outside people who are passing by
would give a very surprised look because
they wouldn't have a clue as to what we
are doing because they wouldn't know the
Muslim prayer that could be the reaction
but other than that there is no
discrimination I have faced yeah in
general Japanese people always try to be
like polite and considerate current
situation is a lot different and easy
and better for the sake of Muslims
because the society is welcoming
you know welcoming the thoughts of
diversity and you know some Japanese
people are trying to accommodate Muslim
needs by providing truck mosques trucks
that would expand into a room and become
a place of worship it might be a
particular different challenge since I
am Muslim from Japan and when I compare
that with the Muslims from outside of
Japan why you know there are double
standard treatment when they treat with
Japanese it is one thing and when they
treat with others it's a foreigners it's
another thing so for example at the
times of defusing drinking alcohol if I
was from outside of Japan they would
accept it easily no because you know you
know you come from China we respect you
but since they you know they know that I
do look like Japanese so they know me
Japanese and then the you know two
decades before they were likely to ask
me aren't you Japanese so in public I
don't really get strange stares or
people reacting in some way to my hijab
in Japan I think because of the nature
of Japanese people they usually don't
stare at people they don't want to put
them in an
comfortable state so I never faced any
difficulty or inconvenience now they're
getting used to it but it's not the same
with other parts of Japan in countryside
areas there are many people who would be
surprised in cannot hide their surprise
and in my workplace for example also I
used to get asked questions like why do
I vary it and sometimes even strange
questions like do I go into shower with
it or do I sleep visit one day my
co-workers were asking me can I take off
my hijab just once they were like very
close to me and I don't know for me it
was a bit awkward I also understand them
they don't fully understand Islam and
why we do certain things and why it's
important to us and how important it is
for us so in Islam it's obligatory to
vary hijab and women in Islam are
supposed to cover the hair and parts of
their body and dress modestly so I try
to do that that helps me to feel close
to God and have feel the connection
because in this world in this modern
days it's very easy to be distracted
with many other things and forget about
your religion your main priorities in
life I very key job when I'm in public
and when I'm with people who are outside
of my family for example if it's my
father or mother my browser siblings my
husband I can be without hitch happens
yeah completely fun but when I go out or
when I'm around with other people I wear
hijab one important thing that I forgot
is with females it's totally fine yeah
don't be afraid and be relaxed enjoy
because it's a lot easier then you might
be expecting thank God that at least not
yet
we don't have Islamophobia here in this
society so no one would show you any
stones or whatever when you come here
when you walk on the contrary even from
the government side they do welcome a
lot the you know the guests from outside
Japan now is very welcome to Muslim so
don't worry to come to Japan what most
Muslims should know about life in Japan
and living in Japan is a Muslim is that
it's extremely comfortable to live as a
Muslim even more so than many Muslim
countries the reason I say that is
because I don't see any restrictions on
practicing my religion living in Japan
is a Muslim
we have mosques we have halal food and
there is a large Muslim community
actually we can hang out but we can talk
to so I think we feel quite comfortable
living in Japan is a Muslim nobody cares
if you wear a hijab nobody cares if you
pray as long as you don't mess up you
don't screw anything as long as you are
following and obeying the same rules is
the Japanese society there is more
freedom and one of the reasons why I
personally feel comfortable living in
Japan is our Prophet peace be upon him
he himself said the reason I was sent to
this world is too perfect traits of
character so he meant my aim is not to
make people pray or do this or do that
the purpose of this religion is to make
people beautify themselves through
beautifying their character and just
like a person can have certain set of
vices and virtues society as a whole can
have vices and virtues so I find a lot
of virtues that are commended in Islam
in the Japanese society that's why it
feels to me living in Japan Japan is
more Islamic than more
many Muslim countries and what you know
I got another email from Bono and so
what happened is I sent her and Shahzad
a draft of the video because it's a
subject I know virtually nothing about
and I wanted to make sure that I
presented it correctly not edit it for
like bad things or anything like that or
censor stuff just make sure I didn't put
some terms down that were incorrect but
anyways she had this to say we feel like
we were a bit remiss in showing or
expressing how thankful we are to Japan
and the Japanese people in general for
their largely welcoming and respectful
attitude towards Muslims if you could
add a sentence in your own words in the
conclusion of your video telling your
audience how grateful we are to Japan
and the Japanese people we would
appreciate it well consider it done you
did it yourself do you think it's fun to
talk about my youtube channel in which I
honestly just check out her channel and
you'll know how much her and Shahzad
really love Japan
oh you're here I will see okay so should
I walk pretending that I'm not seeing
okay