Arab News Dubai

Islam as a religion is still growing in Japan, and social networking services (SNS) can play a critical role in developing relations between the majority and minority communities, a conference in Abu Dhabi was told. 

Dr. Yuki Shiozaki, associate professor at the School of International Relations at the University of Shizuoka, Japan, said people need to communicate more to reach rural areas where Muslims were not represented fairly.

The Muslim population in Japan is around 100,000, out of whom about 10,000 are Japanese citizens.

“The Muslim community in Japan is very small, even compared to Europe and North America. Islam and Muslims are unfamiliar to most Japanese,” he said.

Shiozaki was addressing a session — Citizenship and Faith in the Age of New Media: Japanese Experience — at the Global Youth Forum in Abu Dhabi, which was hosted by the World Muslim Communities Council (TWMCC).

Shiozaki said that in Japan, Muslims could overcome the geographical barriers by making use of SNS.

“Muslims in Japanese society can interact with other Muslims using the virtual sphere. There are other usages of the internet for Muslims, as opportunities to learn Islamic knowledge is very limited in Japan, which opens the door for remote education,” he said.

He added that SNS could be an excellent tool to enhance greater understanding with the majority, adding that social media should be used as a tool for education in Japan.

“The language barrier can be a major hurdle to studying Islam. As educators, it is our duty to spread Islamic knowledge and values given that Islam is still growing in my country, and we need to communicate more in order to expand our efforts to rural areas where Muslims are not being represented fairly,” Shiozaki said.

Addressing the forum, the chairman of TWMCC, Dr. Ali Rashid Al-Nuaimi, said: “Challenges faced by Muslim communities make it necessary to empower young men and women to lead the future and the institutions in their communities, along with supporting their ideas, vision and aspirations.”