5 Nov, 2014
Japan’s rich Muslim past and present – Al Jazeera English
Tokyo, Japan – Tokyo Camii, or the Tokyo Mosque, is a curious sight, both stunning and subtle. Despite the grand Turkish design, the mosque hides between apartment blocks in the quiet residential neighbourhood of Yoyogi Uehara.
Construction of the current incarnation of the mosque was completed in 2000, but the mosque has a much longer history. It was in the 1930s when Japan first saw a significant resident Muslim population and the first mosques were established. The Nagoya Mosque was built in 1931 and the Kobe Mosque in 1935 by Indian-Muslim migrants.
Tatar Muslim migrants escaping the Russian revolution made up the largest ethnic group in Japan by the 1930s and established the original Tokyo Mosque in 1938.
Read the rest: Japan’s rich Muslim past and present – Features – Al Jazeera English.
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