Sake, Shinto, and Shahada: A Japanese Woman’s Path
In a country where 0.1% are Muslim, I found the faith that answered every question.
I grew up performing Shinto rituals at New Year and Buddhist ceremonies at funerals — like most Japanese, religion was cultural wallpaper, not conviction.
I met Islam through a Malaysian exchange student at Osaka University. She was the calmest person I’d ever encountered. When I asked her secret, she said, ‘I talk to God five times a day. It’s hard to be anxious when you do that.’
Learning about Islam in Japan is lonely. There’s no community to fall into. I read the Quran alone in my apartment. The concept of one God with no intermediaries was breathtakingly simple after years of shrines and statues.
I pray in a tiny musallah above a halal restaurant in Shin-Osaka. There are maybe forty of us. But when we stand shoulder to shoulder for Jumu’ah, I feel connected to 2 billion people.