I visited my hometown called Hiji, a neighboring town of Beppu City, last week.
Over there I found that public opinion has been severely divided due to the issue if people should accept the difference of religious customs.
It started when the plan was made to build a cemetery for Muslims living in Japan in my hometown. Muslims do not accept the Japanese custom of cremation for the burial of the dead, as it is considered painful for the souls of the deceased. The fact is there are only a few cemeteries in Japan that accept burial in the ground. For Muslims, after living in Japan for so many years, how to deal with the death of their families and themselves was a more serious issue than we might think.
However, many residents there opposed to the plan. Petitions from residents who are against the plan were also sent to the city hall. The reason given was that accepting the burial would contaminate the nearby spring water, which is also used for agricultural purposes and drinking water. Others argued that since they were living in Japan, they should accept Japanese customs.
These people were also a deepening conflict with those who said that such opinions were hate and discrimination. Eventually, three years ago, the town of Hiji suspended the plan.
Naturally, the Muslim community was painfully disappointed. They had been trapped without a place to bury their dead, and the fact that they had to wait so long without reaching a decision due to unexpected opposition from the local residents. This news happened in Hiji Town was then picked up by the local presses and other medias, and discussions began again on whether or not to build the cemetery. Finally, in May of this year, a compromise was reached to build a cemetery in a location closer to the neighboring city of Kitsuki.
Since the opening of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Oita Prefecture, the number of students from Asia has continued to increase. As if to symbolize Beppu as a hot spring town that is friendly to residents from abroad, more and more foreign residents who speak fluent English has been working at local hotels, and the restaurants serving international cuisine has also started to be found. Then automatically, a lot of foreign tourists are visiting there now.
Therefore, the incident that occurred in Hiji Town, right next to Beppu City, posed a major challenge to Oita Prefecture. This year, the issue seemed to have been finally settled. However, the people of Kitsuki City, a neighbor of Hiji Town, are now fearing harmful rumors and have started a campaign against the project.
I will not go into the scientific analysis of whether or not there is really a causal relationship between the burial of human remains and water pollution in the life of all things in the forest. However, what emerges from the background of these series of disturbances is the question of how Japan should view its future, which cannot survive without interaction with the rest of the world. The reality is that Japan has limited domestic procurement of resources and is not self-sufficient in even a single item of food. In addition, the aging of the workforce has been repeatedly pointed out as an issue. Needless to say, there is a need to create a society that welcomes people from other countries and allows multicultural people to live together in harmony.
“Japan is one of the few countries in the world that tolerates diversity in its system. But when it comes to the day-to-day life and coexistence with its people, foreign immigrants experience some of the highest barrier and alienation in the world”,
said one of my foreign friends living in Japan. He expressed the anger that Japanese accepted them as an institution but did not share their lifestyle and culture with them.
In this global era, many Muslims from Southeast Asia as well as the Middle East are moving to Japan to live. Currently, more than 230,000 Muslims in our country.
People from Indonesia and Malaysia are one example. If they would not only study in Japan and contribute to Japanese society, but also work hard for exchange with their homeland, it would be quite valuable matters from the standpoint of the national interest. Of course, Islam is not the only religion. There are countless cultures and religions in the world with their own manners and customs. If we cannot be tolerant of them and share different values, we will dam the inflow of wisdom and know-how from abroad. This should lead to Japan's decline in the future.
As anyone who has been abroad will immediately understand, it takes a great deal of effort to adapt customs and habits after settling down in the different countries. If people without such experience close their doors to people from overseas because they cannot fit in in Japan, the people from overseas will be isolated and simply leave Japan disappointed.
The dispute in Hiji tells us that the concept of multicultural conviviality is not just an academic matter, but an everyday issue that must be addressed for the future of Japan.
