1. For Japan’s Muslims, acceptance comes slowly
 [By Daily Times, Pakistan (Saturday,July 17,2004)]
Imam Cemil Ayaz makes it clear when he sits down for a chat about Islam in Japan: terrorism is not up for discussion. In fact, says the prayer leader and director of Tokyo’s most prominent mosque don’t even mention the word. “Islam is a religion of peace and a religion of love,” said the Turkish imam through an interpreter.

2. Identifying Muslim groups in Japan_Towards developing a mutual understanding with the Japanese folks
Japanese people have a history of interaction with Muslim countries that goes back to ancient times. In 20^th century Japan, the relationship with Islamic countries was as suppliers of oil in Middle-Eastern countries. However, especially since the 1990s, Japan has experienced an increase in the number of immigrants from Islamic countries, and also in the number of Japanese converting to Islam.

"This will help the Japanese Muslims learn about hajj in a proper way," said Ohira.

3.  IOL: Second Life Hajj Goes Japanese
[By Kenta KASAI, Centre for Information on Religion]
"This will help the Japanese Muslims learn about hajj in a proper way," said Ohira.

CAIRO — Muslims in Japan can now have a hands-on training experience of hajj after the launch of a new Japanese version of IslamOnline.net's educational program on the annual ritual in the virtual world of Second Life.

4. Islam in Japan
[Japan  By Michael Penn from Asiaquaterly.com]This article introduces the social condition of Muslims who live in contemporary Japan, focusing especially on the ground-level realities of these communities. Basic information about the Muslim population are presented, as well as its institutional infrastructure. The analysis briefly considers both issues of national politics and the problems faced by individual Muslims in Japanese society. The article concludes that Muslims in Japan can sometimes succeed in their personal lives, but that as an independent community they suffer serious impediments.

5.  Islam in Japan
[from en.wikipedia.org]

The history of Islam in Japan is relatively brief in relation to the religion's longstanding presence in other countries around the world. There are few and isolated records of contact between Islam and Japan before the opening of the country in 1853, although some Muslims did arrive in Nagasaki in earlier centuries. The first modern Muslim contacts were with Malays who served aboard British and Dutch ships in the late 19th century. In the late 1870s, the life of Muhammad was translated into Japanese. This helped Islam to find a place in the intellectual imagination of the Japanese people, but only as a part of the history of cultures.

6.  Islam in Japan
 [from missionislam.com]
The History of Islam in Japan
Islam's relation with Japan is quite recent as compared to those with other countries around the world.

There are no clear records of any contact between Islam and Japan nor any historical traces of Islam's coming into Japan through religious propagation of any sort except for some isolated cases of contact between individual Japanese and Muslims of other countries before 1868.  

7.  Japan fueled rumors emperor could convert to Islam, 1943 document
[By 2004 Kyodo News International, Inc]
U.S. intelligence officials were so concerned about Japan's ''infiltration'' of Muslim countries during World War II, they proposed urgent countermeasures, formerly secret government documents show.The Office of Strategic Services (forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency) claimed that Japan had successfully implemented a policy of courting Muslim nations since the turn of the century in order to serve its own strategic ends.

8.  Japan Info
[A Trip to Japan- Live Chat By ISLAMONLINE(IOL)]
A one-year trip to Japan will be the first to start with in these live sessions. Dear readers, I would like to welcome Marwan Mohammad, IOL Correspondent with us today.

From my experience, I think the main tradition of Japan is one of respect.

9.  Japan Joins Booming Islamic Banking
[By ISLAMONLINE(IOL)]
Japan is planning to introduce Shari`ah-compliant dealings into its beefy banking system in a bid to attract lucrative Middle Eastern oil money, a Japanese newspaper said. The government-backed Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has formed a four-man advisory board of Islamic legal scholars from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Pakistan, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

10. Japan policy on Islam
[By Katakura Kunio]
The world changed on 11 September 2001.” Who among us has not heard that phrase? Following the horrifying terrorist attacks in the United States that day, Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and other Muslim and Arab names began appearing frequently in the news, which, soon enough, was news of war

11. Japan: Foreign Muslim demography
[By Hiroshi Kojima (Japanese Journal of Population)]
This study presents a preliminary estimation of variations in demographic characteristics of the foreign “Muslim” population in Japan over the last two decades, particularly size and composition, as well as a preliminary analysis of intermarriages between foreign “Muslims” and Japanese. The major data derive from the Statistics of Foreigners Registered in Japan, which is supplemented by the population census data.

12.Japan: Islam in Japan, Asia Policy 
[By Emile A. Nakhleh, Keiko Sakurai, Michael Penn]
In the last two decades “Islamization” has grown by leaps and bounds throughout the world. Islamization is characterized by increased piety, expanding education, growing proselytization (or da’wa), deepening awareness by Muslims of their Islamic identity, spreading linkages (both electronic and face-to-face) among Muslims, and more active involvement in the societies where Muslims reside.

13.Japan: marriage lead women 
[By Michael (chris) Wilson & Dianna Soweidan]
Once distant and unknown in Japan, Islam has found converts among young Japanese women. Many are married to men who come to Japan to find work from countries with Islamic traditions such as Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Malaysia.
 

14.Japanese Muslims Try To Remove Tarnished Image 
[By ISLAMONLINE(IOL)]

Although they make up only a fraction of the country’s overall population, Muslims in Japan move in earnest to give a true image and correct misconceptions about their religion in what seems to be a battle of acceptance.

15. Local Mosques and the Lives of Muslims in Japan
[By Kawakami Yasunori (The Asahi Shimbun)]
But the number of Muslims was relatively small before the 1980’s. The number of Muslims in Japan grew rapidly in the mid-1980 during the bubble economy. At that time young men from Muslim countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran came to Japan and worked in small businesses or factories which experienced labor shortages.

16. Muslims in Japan
[nikkei.com]
Against a backdrop of globalization and the growing influence of Middle Eastern oil money, Muslim people and their culture, in such forms as mosques and halal foods, are becoming more familiar in Japan. The stories below show how the Muslim presence is spreading and touching the daily lives of ordinary Japanese.
 

17. Pakistan Presses Japan To Act On Anti-Muslim Racism
[By ISLAMONLINE(IOL)]
The Pakistani embassy said Wednesday it had appealed to the Japanese government to act over a spate of anti-Muslim racist incidents including the desecration of the Holy Qu'ran. The request followed an incident Monday in which leaflets denigrating Islamic culture and torn copies of the Qu'ran were found in front of a Pakistani-owned used car dealership in central Japan. 

18. Ramadan in Japan
[By Yvonne Ridley,Saturday,07 October 2006]
Ramadan Mubarak. As I write to you today I am visiting one of the smallest Muslim communities in the world and am currently burning the midnight oil preparing this article.

19.  Two Japanese Women Become Muslim
 [By ISLAMONLINE(IOL)]
I was raised in the technologically-advanced atmosphere of Japan. I lived a peaceful, sedentary life and was blessed with a caring family and the tools to succeed in my studies and work. All avenues were open for me to enjoy an easy and fulfilling life.

20. Vandalized Koran stirs Japan's Muslims
[By Uli Schmetzer,Chicago Tribune foreign correspondent]
Pakistani Ahmed Gondal made a decent living selling secondhand Japanese cars to Russia until right-wing mobs singled him out for their racist and religious slurs. Since then, Gondal, 37, has become a symbol for the intolerance and smoldering xenophobia stoked by small but active nationalist and neo-fascist movements who believe Japan must close its doors to more foreigners and halt the spread of different religions. This time however, the black-clad nationalists who crisscrossed the country on buses equipped with loudspeakers blaring their opinions may have taken on more than they anticipated.