In September 2020, the Beppu Muslim Association believed it was close to securing approval from the town of Hiji, on the southern island of Kyushu, to establish a cemetery where Muslims could be laid to rest, at variance with the Japanese tradition of cremation.
Today, association head Muhammad Tahir Abbas Khan laments that this goal remains elusive – and that misleading reports in traditional media and on social platforms have helped block what he describes as a “straightforward request” in a nation that otherwise allows other faiths to bury their dead.
“I cannot believe I am having to take this step,” said Khan, who has lived in Japan since 2001, became a Japanese national more than a decade ago and is a professor at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Oita prefecture.
According to Khan, the YouTuber claimed that he was attempting to turn Japan into a Muslim-majority nation and that his efforts to secure a graveyard were merely the first step in this campaign.
