Islamic Terrorism: Why There Is None in Japan

April 13, 2015 Y.K. Cherson 1,006 Comments

With all this Muslim terrorism plaguing the world, perhaps it is time to take a look at a country not suffering the same fate and analyze exactly why that is…

By: Y.K. Cherson

In 2011, Sunni Muslims accounted for the greatest number of terrorist attacks and fatalities for the third year in a row. Over 5,700 incidents were committed by Sunni Muslims, responsible for nearly 56 percent of all attacks and about 70 percent of 12,533 fatalities.*

Another 24 percent of the fatalities are on Shi´a Muslims. So in 2011, Muslims were responsible for 94 percent of the fatalities in terrorist attacks. Since 2011, with ISIS on the scene, the number of the fatalities –victims of the Muslim terrorist attacks- sharply grew, together with Muslims´ share in the world terrorism that is steadily closing in on 100%.

In 2013, according to the US Department of State, a total of 9,707 terrorist attacks occurred worldwide, resulting in more than 17,800 deaths and more than 32,500 injuries. In addition, more than 2,990 people were kidnapped or taken hostage. Information about perpetrators was reported in source materials for 32 percent of terrorist attacks in 2013.

And of these 32 percent, or 17,800 deaths, only three Muslim terrorist groups, namely the Taliban, ISIS and Boko Haram, were responsible for 5,655 fatalities, or for 31.76 percent! That means that 31.76 percent out of the 32 percent of terrorist attacks which had reported information about the attackers were perpetrated by only three Muslim terrorist groups, out of a good 50 more that exist in our turbulent world!

Muslim terrorists can be proud: their share in world terrorist attacks is now close to 100%.

Seems there is not a single country where Muslims would not show their true colors… But no! There is such a country. It’s one of the most developed countries on Earth, and its democratic nature is recognized worldwide, a true ally of the USA and a member of NATO. However, with all this, there was not a single terrorist attack perpetrated by Muslims in this country. Moreover, there was not a single, even minor, riot, disturbance or protest, no matter how many citizens of this country support cartoons of the prophet Muhammad published in some Danish newspaper or in a French magazine.

The name of this lucky country is Japan.

Of course, Japan achieved this by some super effective integration policy, through using the most advanced technologies and assigning billions of yen on the building of thousands of mosques and Islamic schools all over Japan, banning pork in all public places, introducing separate hours for boys and girls in swimming pools in all public schools, and Japanese male doctors do not dare touch their female patients, Muslim women get immense social aid each time they have a child, Shari´a courts were introduced in the judicial system of Japan, and the Koran is considered a Holy Book in Japan…

No, nothing of the kind. What Japan did to avoid problems related to Muslims was much simpler and cheaper; Japan is practically closed to Muslims.

Officially, immigration to Japan is not closed to Muslims. But the number of the immigration permits given to the applicants from Islamic countries is very low. Obtaining a working visa is not easy for adepts of Islam, even if they are physicians, engineers and managers sent by foreign companies that are active in the region. As a result, Japan is “a country without Muslims”.

There is no reliable estimate on the Japanese Muslim population. However, claims of thirty thousand made by some researchers are without doubt an exaggeration. Some claim that there are only a few hundred. This probably amounts to the number of Muslims openly practicing Islam. Asked to give an estimate on the actual number of Muslims in Japan, the ex-president of the Japan Islamic Association Abu Bakr Morimoto replied, “To say frankly, only one thousand. In the broadest sense, I mean, if we do not exclude those who became Muslims for the sake of, say marriage, and do not practice then the number would be a few thousand.”

One of the leaders of the Muslim community in Japan, Nur Ad-Din Mori, was asked: “What percentage of Japan’s total population are Muslims?” He responded, “The answer at the moment is: One out of a hundred thousand.”

Japan’s population is 130 million people, so if these Muslim leaders are correct, then there must be around 1300 Muslims. But even those Muslims who obtained immigration permits and lived many years in the country have very poor chances of becoming Japanese citizens.

Japan officially forbids exhorting people to adopt the religion of Islam (Dawah), and any Muslim who actively encourages conversion to Islam is seen as proselytizing to a foreign and undesirable culture. Too active “promoters of Islam” face deportation- and sometimes even a jail sentence.

The Arabic language is taught by very few academic institutes; I could find only one such institute: The Arabic Islamic Institute in Tokyo. But even the International University of Japan in Tokyo does not offer courses on Arabic or Islamic languages.

Importing the Koran in Arabic is practically impossible, and the only one permitted is the “adapted” version in Japanese.

Until recently, there were only two mosques in Japan: Tokyo Jama Masjid and Kobe Mosque. Now, the total number of Muslim praying sites in Japan is counted in some 30 single story mosques and about a hundred apartment rooms set aside for prayers.

And Japanese society expects Muslims to pray at home: no collective “prostrating” in the streets or squares; in Japan, for such “shows” the actors can get pretty high fines, and in those cases Japanese Police consider “serious”, the participants can be deported.

Quite often, Japanese companies seeking foreign workers specifically note that they are not interested in Muslims.

There is not even a trace of a Shari´a Law in Japan, and halal food is extremely difficult to find in there.

The Japanese tend to perceive Islam as a “strange and dangerous religion” that a true Japanese should avoid, and the recent murders of two Japanese nationals, Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto, by ISIS have not contributed to any improvement in the opinions of the Japanese on this matter.

And the most interesting thing in the Japanese approach to Muslims is the fact that the Japanese do not feel any guilt for such a “discriminatory” approach to Islam, and they evidently do not think they should apologize to Muslims for the negative way in which they perceive their religion. Arab gas and oil- yes, and Japan maintains good relations with Arab exporters. But Islam – no, and Muslim immigration- neither. Islam is something that is suitable for others, not for Japan, and therefore the Muslims must remain outside.

And Muslims in Japan do not riot, they do not brand the Japanese “racists”, they do not burn cars, smash windows, behead Japanese soldiers for having been in Afghanistan, Iraq or anywhere else on Earth – and not a single Japanese has been victim of a Muslim terrorist attack on Japanese soil in the last 30 years.

Maybe Europe and the USA should look at the Japanese model of dealing with Muslims more closely?

*This information comes from the National Counterterrorism Center’s (NCTC) unclassified report. The NCTC provides the State Department with the statistical data it needs and was created to provide government agencies with this type of information.