{"id":161994,"date":"2025-03-28T15:54:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T15:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/anthropology\/illegibility-and-immobility-in-the-social-lives-of-muslim-migrants-in-japan\/"},"modified":"2025-03-28T15:54:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T15:54:49","slug":"illegibility-and-immobility-in-the-social-lives-of-muslim-migrants-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161994","title":{"rendered":"Illegibility and Immobility in the Social Lives of Muslim Migrants in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Article begins<\/h2>\n
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Migration is not just about \u201cgetting there\u201d but also \u201cmaking it.\u201d\u00a0What does it feel like when you can\u2019t fit in your host society as the \u201cright\u201d kind of migrant?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For countless Muslim migrants, Japan represents opportunity and a chance for upward mobility. Yet\u00a0in a country often imagined as homogeneous<\/a>\u00a0and \u201csecular,\u201d what do opportunity and mobility look like? After all, migration is not just about \u201cgetting there,\u201d but \u201cmaking it.\u201d How do race, power, and\u00a0social\u00a0class influence migrants\u2019 experiences in Japan?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the 1970s, Japanese society has\u00a0increasingly relied on migrants<\/a>\u00a0to fill a variety of jobs, although the government has been slow to acknowledge or support them. Today,\u00a0three\u00a0million\u00a0foreign residents make up about 3%<\/a>\u00a0of Japan\u2019s total population. Between 2018 and 2023,\u00a0foreign labor grew by over 40%<\/a>\u00a0with a growing number of workers coming from South and Southeast Asia. Although the Japanese government does not record the religion of migrants living in Japan, scholars estimate\u00a0that\u00a0230,000 Muslims are living there as of 2020.<\/a>\u00a0While an increasing number\u00a0of migrants\u00a0coming to Japan are from the Muslim-majority countries of\u00a0Malaysia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Indonesia<\/a>\u2014the\u00a0largest Muslim\u00a0<\/a>country<\/a>\u00a0by population<\/a>\u2014the Muslim community in Japan is made up of\u00a0migrants from all over the world.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: <\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJohn Ostermiller<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tView of the Shizuoka Masjid (Mosque), located on the western edges of Shizuoka City, the author\u2019s primary fieldsite. Prior to the opening of the mosque in 2019, the local Muslim organization operated a prayer room out of its offices in downtown. Of the dozens of properties, they offered to buy, the only one who would sell to a Muslim organization was on the edge of the city.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cPassing\u201d in Japanese Society<\/strong><\/h2>\n

N<\/a>arratives<\/a>\u00a0linking\u00a0<\/a>\u201cblood\u201d\u00a0<\/a>to<\/a>\u00a0\u201cculture<\/a>\u201d shape the\u00a0experiences of\u00a0migrants\u00a0in Japan. These narratives\u00a0posit that\u00a0Japanese \u201cblood\u201d is\u00a0unique\u2014and\u00a0without\u00a0it,\u00a0one cannot \u201ctruly\u201d understand Japanese culture\u2014a perspective that extends to social perceptions of migrants.<\/p>\n

In Japan, migrants aren\u2019t called\u00a0imin\u00a0<\/em>(immigrants), but rather gaikokujin<\/em> (foreigners) or the abbreviated\u00a0gaijin\u00a0<\/em>(outsiders). Historically,\u00a0Japanese immigration policies\u00a0have\u00a0favored\u00a0nikkeijin\u2014<\/em>foreigners of Japanese descent\u2014with\u00a0the assumption that their \u201cpartial\u201d Japanese \u201cblood\u201d\u00a0would give them an\u00a0innate understanding of\u00a0Japanese customs.\u00a0\u00a0Unfortunately,\u00a0nikkeijin<\/em>\u00a0have\u00a0often faced harsh\u00a0criticism\u00a0for\u00a0\u201clooking Japanese\u201d<\/a>\u00a0but not\u00a0\u201cacting Japanese.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Foreign residents<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Japanese of mixed ancestry<\/a>\u00a0try to \u201cpass\u201d as Japanese to avoid the stigma of being a foreigner.\u00a0However, not all foreigners are treated equally in Japan. The Muslim migrants I interviewed\u00a0mentioned that\u00a0most Japanese people they\u00a0encountered\u00a0had little experience with Muslims or knowledge of Islam. They also\u00a0discussed\u00a0the unspoken interactional rules between Japanese and non-Japanese people: white westerners are often treated better than non-western, darker-skinned foreigners. In other words, migrant mobility in Japan is shaped by two factors: whether or not you can \u201cpass\u201d as Japanese, and what kind of foreigner you\u00a0can\u00a0<\/em>\u201cpass\u201d as.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Japan,\u00a0\u201cwhiteness\u201d\u00a0is highly desirable<\/a>, and blonde-haired, blue-eyed white\u00a0Western men<\/a>\u00a0are often\u00a0seen as\u00a0the \u201cideal\u201d foreigners. Meanwhile, Blackness<\/a> and\u00a0darker skin<\/a>\u00a0are stigmatized. Being Muslim complicates this hierarchy. Because\u00a0Japanese media often portrays\u00a0\u201cMuslims\u201d<\/a>\u00a0as a homogenous group of Middle Eastern people prone to religious violence, Japanese people may conflate migrants\u2019 religion with their \u201crace,\u201d or fear\u00a0that Muslims\u2019 customs pose a threat to Japanese communities<\/a>. My friends Hamza and Madiha share their stories as Muslim migrants living in Japan who struggled with \u201cpassing\u201d in various situations.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: <\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJohn Ostermiller<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPreparing for Eid in June 2024 at the Shizuoka Mosque, a converted warehouse located along Mochimune harbor\u2019s waterfront. Because of the small number of mosques in Japan, some Muslim migrants may only visit a mosque once or twice a year for Ramadan and The Feast of the Sacrifice (Eid).\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Hamza: What is White Passing?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For many Muslim migrants, living in Japan is an exercise in adaptation. Life is not organized\u00a0around the five daily prayers, mosques are rare, and finding halal food can be\u00a0challenging. Hamza, a Palestinian English teacher living in Shizuoka for over 30 years, said it best: \u201cTo be frank, this is a country that doesn\u2019t do things according to Islamic\u00a0law. If you want to do things according to Islamic\u00a0law, why the\u00a0hell<\/em>\u00a0are you here?\u201d Hamza moved to Japan after meeting his future wife on a flight to India where he was attending college.<\/p>\n

When Hamza first arrived in Shizuoka in the 1990s, clusters of schoolchildren would excitedly shout \u201chullo!\u201d and \u201cgaijin<\/em>!\u201d (\u201coutsider\u201d) whenever they saw him in the neighborhood. Hamza felt that his\u00a0appearance was a significant barrier to finding\u00a0work in Japan because he \u201cdidn\u2019t look white.\u201d One of the\u00a0most common\u00a0jobs for foreigners in Japan\u2014especially for\u00a0white\u00a0Westerners\u2014is\u00a0teaching\u00a0English. Hamza is fluent in English. Growing up in 1960s Palestine, he\u00a0used to\u00a0translate\u00a0TIME\u00a0<\/em>Magazine articles into Arabic with his friends. Despite his fluency, Hamza\u2019s first job was assisting\u00a0his father-in-law\u00a0with his\u00a0struggling roofing business.<\/p>\n

Hamza attributed his\u00a0difficulty\u00a0in securing a teaching job to Japanese assumptions about race and ethnicity: \u201cIn Japan,\u00a0there is\u00a0a kind of complex that only whites and\u00a0Westerners can be native\u00a0English\u00a0speakers.\u201d Hamza and I\u00a0crossed paths several times at the Shizuoka Mosque before he introduced himself, and I always assumed he was a\u00a0Western expatriate living in Japan. While I\u00a0perceived\u00a0Hamza as \u201cwhite passing,\u201d many Japanese people did not share this\u00a0view.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Japanese residents\u2014especially\u00a0those with limited personal experience with foreigners\u2014Hamza is not\u00a0perceived\u00a0as white.\u00a0Who counts as \u201cwhite\u201d<\/a>\u00a0is shaped not only by\u00a0broad ideas of whiteness, but also by local assumptions<\/a>\u00a0about what white people \u201cshould\u201d look like. In Hamza\u2019s case, the expectation was that white foreigners\u00a0should be\u00a0blonde-haired and blue-eyed.\u00a0His\u00a0situation was further complicated by the portrayal of Palestinians in global media: \u201cI couldn\u2019t say I was Palestinian, right? Back in those days, people had the impression that Palestinians were guerillas. I couldn\u2019t even say I was from the Middle East.\u201d Racially ambiguous and\u00a0unable to \u201cpass,\u201d Hamza struggled to find \u201creal\u201d work that paid a steady wage. With the help of his wife and in-laws, Hamza was able to\u00a0secure\u00a0a loan from a Japanese bank and open his own school. By marrying a Japanese citizen, Hamza gained the flexibility and mobility needed to work, live, and succeed in Japanese society.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: <\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJohn Ostermiller<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"An\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tView of Mt. Fuji from Mochimune train station. Getting to Mochimune may only be a 10-to-20 minute train ride, but the mosque itself is another 15-to-20 minute walk from the station. Commuting to the mosque is one of the major issues for Muslims in Shizuoka.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Madiha: \u201cI don\u2019t even feel human sometimes\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Madiha\u2019s experiences\u00a0sharply\u00a0contrast Hamza\u2019s. Madiha,\u00a0an African European woman in her twenties,\u00a0is\u00a0pursuing\u00a0her PhD in a major Japanese city. Born to African immigrants,\u00a0she\u00a0grew up in a small European town.\u00a0Madiha\u2019s\u00a0ethnicity, religion, nationality, and gender have complicated her life in Japan.<\/p>\n

Madiha often feels conflicted about wearing her hijab.\u00a0Numerous European countries have debated<\/a>\u00a0whether to allow Muslim women to wear\u00a0\u201cpious\u201d religious garments\u00a0like the hijab. At first, Madiha felt that Japan was a \u201csafe\u201d place to wear the veil, especially\u00a0in the wake of\u00a0Israel\u2019s 2023 invasion of Palestine. However, her\u00a0current relationship with Japan isn\u2019t a \u201clove-hate,\u201d but rather \u201chate-hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a dark-skinned Muslim woman in Japan, Madiha is explicitly marked as a racial, religious, and gendered subject.\u00a0In the United States<\/a>, some Latine persons\u00a0attempt to \u201cpass\u201d as white<\/a>\u00a0by changing their names and\u00a0behavior. Likewise, African men in Japan have\u00a0increased their social mobility<\/a>\u00a0by adopting African American names, fashion, and speaking styles. But for Madiha, this option isn\u2019t\u00a0viable. She doesn\u2019t want to be seen as African American;\u00a0she wants to be acknowledged as African\u00a0European<\/em>. Madiha described the surprise on her Japanese friends\u2019\u00a0and acquaintances\u2019\u00a0faces when she told them she was from Europe: \u201cI could see the confusion on their faces. Like they were thinking, \u2018She\u2019s (European), but she\u2019s Black. So, she\u2019s not telling us where she\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0comes from.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a Black Muslim woman, Madiha deviates from the \u201cideal\u201d foreigner archetype in Japanese society\u2014typically envisioned as a\u00a0white, presumably Christian or non-religious man. Madiha\u2019s skin color and hijab are not \u201ccoded\u201d\u00a0as European in the minds of many Japanese people she\u00a0encounters. While some African migrants successfully pass as Americans,\u00a0this\u00a0doesn\u2019t work for Madiha. Madiha continues:<\/p>\n

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\u201cEver since I\u2019ve been in Japan, I\u2019m reminded of how Black I am. Or how foreign I am. And there are different layers. If you\u2019re Asian\u00a0 or white, it will be different\u2026 But you\u2019re going to be praised, too.\u00a0Not me. I\u2019m an overweight, introverted Black woman. I\u2019m not\u00a0super cool. People always thought I was American. This American\u00a0girl that is cool and sassy. And that is not what I am at all. I do not\u00a0fit the stereotype. It was a struggle. It\u00a0still\u00a0<\/em>is a struggle. I\u2019m still perceived as someone that is dangerous [because I am Black and Muslim]. I don\u2019t really feel like a woman here. I don\u2019t even feel\u00a0human even sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This struggle to be accepted and acknowledged has impacted Madiha in other ways. After enduring constant staring\u2014especially on trains where people would avoid sitting next to her\u2014Madiha changed\u00a0the way\u00a0she wore her hijab. She experimented with different scarves and head wraps, hoping to look like just \u201canother African migrant\u201d rather than a dark-skinned religious foreigner. This also\u00a0affected\u00a0Madiha\u2019s physical mobility: she rarely goes out and works from home whenever\u00a0possible. Madiha attended mosque services a few times but stopped after receiving judgmental stares from Muslims who saw her without her hijab outside the mosque. Unable to ignore her religious convictions or make herself legible to her Japanese friends and colleagues, Madiha is stuck. She feels rejected by both her religious peers and Japanese society at large.<\/p>\n

Migrant (Il)legibility and (Im)mobility<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hamza\u2019s\u00a0and Madiha\u2019s experiences highlight how being Muslim in Japan complicates migrants\u2019 abilities to pursue the opportunities that\u00a0initially\u00a0drew them to the country. Their stories bring to light\u00a0the unspoken hierarchy of foreigners in Japanese society, revealing\u00a0a clear\u00a0preference for white,\u00a0Western men.\u00a0As a result, \u201cmaking it\u201d in Japan often requires migrants to\u00a0alter their appearance, speech, and behavior.\u00a0However,\u00a0for pious dark-skinned Muslim women like Madiha,\u00a0it is as impossible to change one\u2019s skin color<\/a>\u00a0as it is unconscionable to take off one\u2019s hijab. Understanding migrants\u2019 experiences requires us to pay\u00a0attention to how\u00a0multiple factors<\/a>\u2014like race, religion, gender, class\u2014shape the opportunities and\u00a0<\/em>challenges\u00a0they\u00a0encounter. This includes recognizing that\u00a0Western ideas about whiteness permeate other countries as well. Although migrants may come to Japan for similar reasons,\u00a0like\u00a0professional or educational opportunities,\u00a0their actual experiences in Japan\u00a0can differ greatly.<\/p>\n

Alex Wolff and Yanping Ni are the section contributing editors for the Society for East Asian Anthropology.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article begins Migration is not just about \u201cgetting there\u201d but also \u201cmaking it.\u201d\u00a0What does it feel like when you can\u2019t fit in your host society as the \u201cright\u201d kind of migrant? For countless Muslim migrants, Japan represents opportunity and a chance for upward mobility. Yet\u00a0in a country often imagined as homogeneous\u00a0and \u201csecular,\u201d what do opportunity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11767],"tags":[66312,66313,32452,1798,13550,7832,15927,5658,8785,2450,10974,66311],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-161994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anthropology","tag-illegibility","tag-immobility","tag-islam","tag-japan","tag-lives","tag-migrants","tag-migration","tag-muslim","tag-race","tag-religion","tag-social","tag-whiteness"],"yoast_head":"\nIllegibility and Immobility in the Social Lives of Muslim Migrants in Japan - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=161994\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illegibility and Immobility in the Social Lives of Muslim Migrants in Japan - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Article begins Migration is not just about \u201cgetting there\u201d but also \u201cmaking it.\u201d\u00a0What does it feel like when you can\u2019t fit in your host society as the \u201cright\u201d kind of migrant? For countless Muslim migrants, Japan represents opportunity and a chance for upward mobility. 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