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Muslim Girls in Japan (wearing hijab) -
05-05-2009, 06:35 AM
I'm one of those insane Japan Otaku people and my biggest goal is to travel to Japan to work and live there for the rest of my life (even get married to a Japanese man). However, I am muslim and I wear a hijab (scarf to cover my hair) and I feel that the Japanese will treat me worse than any other kind of gaijin... I'm kind of scared and I think that they might not except me into their country well. This will still not effect my love towards Japan and everything Japanese, because I am in love with this beautiful country ever since I could remember ( 4-5 years old watching animes and favoring Japanese cooking).
So does anyone know anything about this or know anyone that wears a hijab and lives in Japan - experience or something? please, arigatou gosaimasu  ***my real name is aya (japanese name) and I actually don't look libyan, more asian... my parents always make fun of me, and make jokes and say that maybe they aren't my real parents, some Japanese family is. lol  ***
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05-05-2009, 06:51 AM
To be honest, I never saw anyone wearing a hijab there, so I don't know what the reaction would be. I think you'd likely get a lot of stares and questions (but then, most foreigners do, especially outside the big city). I think you might be mistaken for a nun, since that is probably what some Japanese would assume from a woman covering her head. Since you know anime, you know that nuns are a fairly common sight in it.
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05-05-2009, 07:10 AM
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Searching for a Japanese man who follows Muslim teachings as a husband will probably be easier in your home country than in Japan. Japan is not a country that follows strict religious laws. As a fan of anime, I am sure you know that. At the same time, even though Japan is mostly populated by Japanese natives, I have not seen "outcasts" from any race. In my experience there isn't such a drastic difference in feeling toward non-Japanese races. What I mean is, I have met few Japanese people that have drastically different feelings about one race or another. Some, yes, but not like in the US.
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05-05-2009, 07:12 AM
I actually see women wearing hijab almost everyday in my neighborhood. I happen to live in a very cosmopolitan neighborhood north of Shinjuku, so please don't think this is the norm for all of Japan. There are countless Japanese-language schools and at least 3 or 4 Halal grocery stores near me. Many embassy-related Islam women come to this area to buy Halal food, too. (They can park anywhere and stilll won't get tickets!)
If you go to smaller cities, you may get curious stares. But that's what I get when I go outside of Japan as well. So that's just to be expected. You should be fine living in Japan.
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05-05-2009, 07:20 AM
I have no experience with hijab in Japan but I ask that you please be patient with neutral questions about your hijab and religion. I don't know how you answer questions about your hijab but I have witnessed massive overeactions. In highschool an extremely naive teammate asked a young girl about her hijab and she reacted negatively. He had no idea what it was and even though me and another guy explained it to him he still wanted to ask her to be certain. Ultimately her brother accused us of all sorts of things and wouldn't believe that it was out of true curiosity that he asked. All I ask is that you please acknowledge that there are people out there that have absolutely no idea what a hijab is or why someone wears one and are truly curious about it.
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05-05-2009, 07:52 AM
Yep, fear not nukiuchi. All us wacky gaikokujin have something odd about us. You wear a hijab, I'm a six foot woman
 You're much more likely to face discrimination because you're a woman than because you've got headwear, but most Japanese are polite enough that most tourists never get to experience this. The worst I've had is older businessmen expecting me to get out of their way when they've altered course to walk directly toward me, and that's no worse than the behaviour of London commuters (from whom I've had far more shoulder-bumps than Japanese businessmen in Japan). When you come to live in Japan, being a woman will be your handicap, unless you want to live at home and do housework all day. Then you're fine  Basically people are people. The majority are harmless, but every now and then there's a nitwit.
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05-05-2009, 10:54 AM
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 Mind you, it'd help keep the sun off, even if you were soaked through the moment you stepped outside
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05-05-2009, 01:36 PM
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used to see a few Muslim girls in Kyoto. They looked Malaysian and did wear the scarf. Japanese are very undersyanding and generally interested in other cultures. Very safe country (most of the time) Cheers - Oz
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