Published: 17 July 2026Reading Time: 5 mins

• Shinji KojimaRitsumeikan Asia Pacific University
• Atsushi YamagataUniversity of Wollongong

In Brief

Japan’s Muslim community has grown rapidly to around 420,000 people, but intense opposition to a mosque construction in Fujisawa in 2025 illustrates how anti-Muslim sentiment is becoming more organised and politically emboldened, fuelled by social media misinformation and right-wing politicians seeking electoral advantage. Without a coherent national approach to immigration that equips local governments to manage diversity and counters hate speech effectively, Japan risks allowing local flashpoints to define its relationship with an increasingly permanent migrant population.

In late 2025, a plan to build a mosque in Fujisawa, Japan suddenly drew intense opposition. An online petition to stop the construction gathered more than 32,000 signatures, raising nearly one million yen (US$6150) in donations. Since then, there have been protests directed at the Fujisawa city government for authorising the project despite it meeting all necessary requirements.

Though the Fujisawa mosque project emerged as a flashpoint in debates around Muslims in Japan in 2025, Muslims have been part of Japanese society for more than a century. The first mosque in Japan — the Kobe Mosque — was founded in 1935, with an estimated 167 mosques nationwide as of 2025. The population of Muslims in Japan has increased rapidly over the last decade, estimated at around 420,000 as of the end of 2024, making up approximately 0.3 per cent of Japan’s population.

Surveys on Japanese perceptions of Islam and Muslims from the 2000s to the early 2010s reveal predominantly negative views. A 2011 survey showed that more than 70 per cent of respondents disagreed with positive descriptions of Islam like ‘advanced’, ‘tolerant’ and ‘peaceful’. But these negative perceptions did not necessarily lead to the kind of large-scale opposition to Muslim communities seen today.

Many Muslim communities have been making routine efforts to serve their communities and peacefully coexist with local Japanese residents. Some mosques provide free meals to people in need, engage in disaster relief efforts or sponsor community events and festivals for cultural exchange. Yet anti-Muslim sentiment has become notably conspicuous. In several parts of Japan, Muslim communities have reported opposition to or restrictions on their activities.

One simmering issue preceding the Fujisawa case is the burial cemetery issue. In Japan, 99.9 per cent of the deceased are cremated and public cemeteries in local cities normally do not have burial plots to serve the needs of religious minorities. Since the 1960s, Muslim associations have been trying to create private burial cemeteries, but have faced a mixture of xenophobic and ‘not in my backyard’ objections from local communities.

In response, Muslims have networked with Buddhist monks, who are trusted members of the local community, to create, share or sell space for Muslims in cemeteries they own. Muslims now enjoy access to around 10 burial cemeteries nationwide, many without friction with the local community. But there are no active, dedicated burial cemeteries for Muslims living in the Tohoku, Kyushu or Okinawa areas.

The burial cemetery issue became a national political flashpoint when, rather than buying existing plots from Buddhist monks, the Beppu Muslim Association in Oita Prefecture in Kyushu embarked on a project to construct a burial cemetery in 2018, seeking local authorisation. The case was covered both in local papers and in national news media, while also being a major issue in Hiji Mayor Tetsuya Abe’s 2024 mayoral election campaign. In the months leading up to the 2026 National Diet elections, politicians from Japan’s right-wing parties, including the Sanseito party, objected to the construction of burial cemeteries in parliamentary speeches and on social media.

In Fujisawa’s case, the construction site for the mosque is a quiet, rural neighbourhood without regular contact with foreigners. Though the mosque organisers fully complied with Japanese laws to purchase land and obtain building permission, politicians and social media influencers used the case to gain popularity by promoting anti-immigrant rhetoric and spreading misinformation.

The residents’ objections were fuelled by unverified messages on social media and street campaigns that linked mosques to criminality and framed them as an existential threat to a peaceful and harmonious community. This rhetoric spread despite confirmation that the mosque in nearby Ebina City is causing no major problems for local residents. The objections caught particular momentum when the mosque was falsely accused of planning to construct a burial cemetery onsite.

The rise in anti-Muslim sentiment shows how difficulties arise when the practical concerns over migration are left to local governments. With limited resources and little direction from the central government, some local governments are struggling to manage the increasingly complex challenges associated with migration. Hate is openly voiced — especially on social media — and in the absence of effective institutional support, migrants must often cope using their own informal mechanisms.

As Japan’s population becomes more diverse, the central government is being increasingly called upon to implement proactive measures. While the central government has refused to acknowledge that Japan is an ‘immigration country’, it can start with recognising that immigrants already form part of Japanese society. The government can also take legislative measures, such as drafting a basic law, to promote a multicultural society.

The formation of the Ministerial Council on the Acceptance of Foreign Nationals and the Realization of a Society of Well-Ordered and Harmonious Coexistence is a welcome start. Yet this sits uneasily alongside tighter visa and citizenship application requirements that make long-term integration difficult. A coherent national approach to immigration is needed — one which also equips local governments with the knowledge and resources to manage an increasingly diverse population.

Shinji Kojima is Associate Professor at the College of Asia Pacific Studies, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.

Atsushi Yamagata is a multidisciplinary researcher and Japanese language educator.

EAF | Japan | Japan’s anti-Muslim sentiment turns its sights on mosques

source https://eastasiaforum.org/2026/07/17/japans-anti-muslim-sentiment-turns-its-sights-on-mosques/