actualmuslimwomen - Tumblr blog

actualmuslimwomen · 3 years

Text

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Purpose of the Research

Muslim women in the society are often misperceived, especially in most of the Western society. Affairs on Muslim women in the world are the illustrations of how the Western society treats the women. For example, after the 9/11 incident many Muslims were affected by severe discriminations from the surroundings. One of the Muslims, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, a young girl from New Jersey, the U.S., who has lived her life in pre- and post-incident, witnessed her surrounding attitudes towards her turning different. In the same year of the incident, it was the first time she received racial slurs. As Al-Khatahtbeh grew, she felt overwhelmed by an intense feeling of alienation from the American society (Al-Khatahtbeh, 2016). Another case of Muslim women came from France. The French Government released a bill that prohibited any women from wearing full-face veil. A member of jurisdiction administrative, the Rapporteur public considered that 'wearing the full veil is not a requirement of the Quran, but a custom, and therefore falls within the cultural, and not the religious, domain. It is on this level that the said custom is designed to keep women under men's domination, and by this very fact, is inconsistent with the Republican principles that the law seeks to uphold.' (Fornerod, 2013: 71) Another small example was a case mentioned in Michael Penn's article. As reported in the Daily Yomiuri newspaper, an Indonesian woman who was working in eastern Japan as a trainee at a sewing factory was forced to sign a note promising neither to pray at company facilities nor to fast for Ramadan. Employers also kept her in prison-like conditions, prohibiting her from owning a phone, having guests, or sending or receiving letters. The Daily Yomiuri quoted a Japanese human rights activist as speculating that "the prohibitions were likely to be enforced in the service of two aims: [to raise] worker efficiency and [to] prevent [the trainees] from escaping." (Penn, 2008: 97)

With a few example cases of Muslim women above, it may be imagined that some Western or Westernized societies in the world consider that Islam, as a religion, is an obstruction in the ordinary life. Japan, a country located in East Asia, is also considered as a country with innumerable cases related to Muslims. As a fact, it was estimated in 2004 that the non-Japanese Muslim population residing in Japan ranged from sixty to seventy thousand people, of which the majority were men (Sakurai, 2008: 71), which increased from around fifty thousand people in 2003 (Kojima, 2006: 117-119). This also means that the population of Muslims, including the Japanese Muslims, is increasing every year. It also means that, with the increasing of Muslim residents in Japan the more Muslims are involved in the Japanese labor market in order to survive. But, looking at the female trainee's case mentioned above, it seems that the Japanese society is still dismayed with Muslim women. This could also be considered as a cultural shock for the Japanese society. But, if it is seen through the Muslim women's eyes, just like many other cases of Muslim women in the rest of the world, these women originally only wanted to defend their identity. As Belinda Green mentioned in her study regarding Muslim women in Australia, the Muslim women resisted forms of exclusion by defending their place in the Australian neoliberal setting through their participation in the education and labor markets. The women also equated being Muslim and the practice of Islam as a vehicle for them to be productive and law abiding Australian citizens (Green, 2012: 62).

While reviewing the cases mentioned above as those of misperceived Muslim women especially in the Japanese society, further research on this issue is necessary to seek the reality of these Muslim women. It is important to collect data on Muslim women's ordinary life in the Japanese society as a supplement of knowledge of Islam. Therefore, in this thesis, I planned to conduct research by approaching a series of stories from different Muslim women staying in Japan with diversity of backgrounds. The Muslim women who cooperated with this research would tell about their life and show their feelings and passion through their efforts in blending with the Japanese society. Thus, a primary research question appeared, namely how do the Muslim women maintain their identities both as a Muslim and a civil citizen in Japan? The main purpose of this thesis is to understand, the values of the Muslim women, the reasons behind their actions and behaviors in their daily life and the way they overcome their issues as a Muslim themselves and as a civil citizen.

1.2. Literature Reviews

To conduct my research, several previous research works were used as reference in deciding the subject of research and the research methods used. I have mainly used three preceding research works. They are summarized and reviewed as follow:

1. Immigrant Muslim Women and the Hijab: Sites of Struggle in Crafting and Negotiating Identities in Canada (Ruby, Tabassum, 2004)

Research objective: To examine the hijab’s meanings from the viewpoint of immigrant Muslim women living in Saskatoon, Canada.

Research method: Using focus groups method on fourteen women from different countries, which let the interviewer observe the discussion among the informants and audio tape them.

Result: Some of the women who wore hijab stated that they wanted to keep hijab as a device that protected them from a sexist society (in this case, Canada) and to be accepted as Canadian, despite of their original nationality backgrounds. Some of the women who did not wear hijab stated that their choice of not wearing was because they did not want to draw attention from the society. They also stated that their relationship with God was a personal matter, and that it was unconnected to the visible marker of a headscarf.

Review: The research work of Tabassum Ruby focused on the immigrant Muslim women and the usage of their hijabs. The results showed more about the reasons why some chose to wear and why some chose not to wear hijab. The method that was used to collect the data was focus group, interviewing a group of women at once and recorded their stories. To correlate to this thesis, this was basically the closest theme to my research theme, which was about Muslim women and a little about the hijab. Advantages and disadvantages of living in a non-Muslim country were also mentioned, but I expected, in my own research, that the advantage part might be uncovered more. Therefore, in my research, I planned to shed more light on some of the positive sides of living in a non-Muslim country as Muslims. Ruby's research method also seemed interesting, but there were some weaknesses in the focus group method in my view. The first was regarding the informants' answers that might be affected among each other and the original answer might be altered in the middle unconsciously. The second was that it might be hard to make notes with many people answering almost at the same time. The third one was the difficulty in recognizing the informants in their recorded answers, and there were possibilities that one or two people might have the same voice tone. In order to avoid these difficulties, I preferred a one-on-one interview so that the whole story can be captured well without being interrupted by anybody or by anything.

2. Wearing the Veil: Hijab, Islam and Job Qualifications as Determinants of Social Attitudes Towards Immigrant Women in Norway (Strabac, Zan, Toril Aalberg, Anders Todal Jenssen & Marko Valenta, 2016)

Research objective: To analyze the local people's negative attitudes towards the immigrant Muslim women especially in hijab in Norway, regarding their formal job qualifications.

Research method: Web survey using survey-embedded experiment (a brief description on each sub-sample, accompanied by a photograph). The descriptions on the sub-samples are provided with hypothetical description (such as hijab/non-hijab, level of education, work experience) in order to see if differences in attitudes are dependent on level of qualification.

Result: From three categories (a. job qualifications of immigrant women; b. family reunion; c. cultural incompatibility) in general, the results show that having hijab is somewhat more negatively viewed than the unveiled Muslim or Christian immigrants. Having higher education does not strongly reduce the negative effects of wearing hijab and that immigrant women who choose to wear it may face increased skepticism in Norway, irrespective of their class position.

Review: The research is interesting because it tells about the non-Muslim society's attitude and prejudice towards Muslim women. I think that, if the above study is used as a model research, the readers will be able to know about the Japanese society's direct opinions on Muslim women in Japan, especially regarding job qualifications, because many Muslim women are also working or trying to look for work in Japan. That is why this work was used as reference. But, the method used in their work was rather difficult to apply. The survey-embedded experiment method needs creating experimental situations and such experiments usually need a lot of samples to have wanted results. This kind of research might only be done if the researcher is more than one person or in a group and it might take a long time to collect data from respondents. Furthermore, not all the respondents sent the survey sheet would answer the questions. I avoided applying this research method because of my limited time and experiences and human resources in conducting my research.

3. Japan as an Emerging Multicultural Society: Exploring Contemporary Minority Issues Through the Case of Muslim Immigrants (Vestre, Eskil Olaf, 2011)

Research objective: To understand the reasons for the difficulties and challenges that Japan is now experiencing through the case of Muslim immigrants.

Research method: Historical approach to discourse analysis, which identifies patterned ways of thinking in textual and verbal communications especially through history.

Result: At the workplace and elsewhere, foreign Muslims may struggle with assimilation pressure. Muslim immigrants may, after living in Japan for extended periods, feel that the gap between their culture and that of the host society is decreasing, but the mainstream society still seems to be reluctant to accept them, and their ‘otherness’ is often over-emphasized and new characteristics of 'otherness' might even be invented. These ‘otherness’ includes negative judgments of characteristics such as dark skin, beards or hijabs. Work problems specific to Muslims can include being denied requests to do lighter work during the Ramadan or have multiple breaks for prayer (take many breaks) at work. Some have even been fired for these reasons.

Review: Vestre's work about immigrant Muslim issues in Japan is very interesting. It exposes the identity of the Muslims and the problems that they face in their daily life. The theme seemed to be related a lot with my research theme, but it rather highlighted the Muslim immigrants in general, men and women, while my research will focus on Muslim women. The method used by Vestre is also persuading, because a lot of studies based either on textual or verbal data strengthen the theory or data discussed in the work.

Based on reviewing the preceding works above, I have decided to use a method that I thought would be more suitable to be used in this research. Especially in describing the experiences of the Muslim women interviewed, the emotions and feelings seemed important to be captured, too in my view. Therefore, I decided to employ a method that allowed me to have direct contacts with the informant so that their expressions and emotions could be properly transmitted to me. The research methodology I employed will be described next.

1.3. Research Methodology

After reviewing some of the related literature, I found that a considerably suitable research method for my research theme was using the ethnographic interview method. According to Eriksson and Kovalainen, ethnographic research takes a cultural lens to study people's lives within their communities (recited from Hammersley and Atkinson, 2007; Fetterman, 2010). The roots of ethnography lie in anthropological studies that focused on studying social and cultural aspects of small communities in foreign countries. The researchers lived among the inhabitants with the purpose of understanding the culture that these people shared. Thus, the classic anthropologists were foreigners in their field sites. It often took years for them to get into the culture of the community that they were studying. In order to do so, they had to learn the language necessary for socializing with the inhabitants and understanding their daily habits, rituals, norms and actions (Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2016: 149). In other words, in ethnographic method, it is necessary to be watchful with a broader perspective in collecting the data, to understand the meanings of people's speech, behaviors, and related phenomena in general (Tomizawa, 2012: 112). So, the ethnographic interview can be regarded as part of the ethnographic method. It is an interview where the interviewer would follow the pace of the informant during the interview. Basically, it is essential to respect what the informant wants to say, while patiently exploring the common ground between the interviewee and the interviewer centering around his/her research theme. The data collecting could be done in such a way. (Tomizawa, 2012: 120.) The data that have been collected are then deeply described using the ethnographic writing. Ethnographic writing, according to Eriksson and Kovalainen, includes a lot of detailed description presented in narrative form (recited from Fetterman, 2010). Watson (1994), Rosen et. al. (2000) and De Rond (2008) are good examples of this. The purpose of description is to let the reader know what happened in the field, what it was like from the participant's point of view to be there, and what particular events or activities were interesting and worth exploring further. A detailed description and quotations are essential qualities of ethnographic accounts (Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2016: 160).

Based on the researched method described above, I planned to conduct ethnographic interviews with some Muslim women as shown below:

Interview Period : July-September 2017

Area of Interview : Shizuoka City, Shizuoka, Japan

Informants : 10 Muslim women of different nationalities

(5 housewives, 5 students)

The interview took place depending on the informants' requests and each interview was estimated to take within 1-2 hours while being recorded. Before interviewing, I attempted to contact the informants beforehand and sent them a consent form to allow me to record the interview along with the question guidelines in order to prevent the informants from thinking too long in answering each question when the interview was conducted. The recorded interview each was then transcribed into a narrative profile, which will be shown later in the next chapter. These profiles of each informant were then analyzed in their daily ethnographic contexts.

The reason for choosing Muslim women who live in Shizuoka as informants was that I was interested in the living conditions of the Muslim minorities and that the population of Muslims in Shizuoka was considered quite a few (estimated approximately two hundreds according to the foreigners' data from Shizuoka City Hall, 2016). Since I am currently residing in Shizuoka, I also often see Muslim women from various countries in Shizuoka City. Another reason for choosing Muslim women as my informants was due to my own experiences in the Japanese society. For example, I have an experience of having been subject to a little act of discrimination and wished to know if other Muslim women in Shizuoka City had any similar experience or not. But, I did not want to limit my informants to students only, thus expanding the range of my research to include housewives too, for, I thought, it would be interesting to be able to understand different experiences and perspectives of students and housewives as well. The next table shows my informants' data.

(The names above are in pseudonym in order to protect the informants' privacy)

0 notes

actualmuslimwomen · 3 years

Text

CHAPTER 2

PROFILES OF MUSLIM WOMEN IN JAPAN

2.1. Profiles of Muslim Housewives

2.1.1. Nana

Nana is a married Muslim woman with two children and she has been living in Shizuoka for ten years. She came to Shizuoka, Japan in 2007 and attended Kokusai Kotoba Gakuin Japanese Language School in Shizuoka City for two years. After graduating from the Language School, she continued studying at the University of Shizuoka and took the Graduate Program. At first, she was hesitant to pursue this study, because it was all out of her plans. But, back on the day when she wrote self-introduction in a form for the Japanese Language School, an intention to continue to Master Degree Program was clearly written. When she was still in the Japanese Language School, her hoshonin (guardian) noticed this and encouraged her to continue to take the Master Degree Program. "Wasn't your mokuteki (objective) to go for daigakuin (Graduate Program)?" That was what her hoshonin said. Since this was originally not her pure intention, she half-heartedly took the entry examination. But, at that moment, she had a partner, who is also her current husband, who helped her a lot in going through the exam until she passed the exam.

Having the decision on continuing the Graduate Program has also made her go through a lot of events. There were positive events, and also unfavorable events such as during her Graduate Program's study, when she had a quite hard treatment from her professor. From the day she attended the Acceptance Ceremony, she was already given cold words from her professor. Even when she tried to apply for a scholarship program, which needed a recommendation from a professor, her professor refused to give the recommendation at first. But, with such an event to occur, it actually made the people in her surroundings stand up for her and help her. Some fellow International student colleagues bravely opposed the professor and demanded to give her a proper recommendation, which eventually she obtained along with the scholarship. This was one of the positive events that happened during the graduate school days. Another positive event happened when she got pregnant in the first year of the study. Actually, before starting the first term on her Graduate Program, she went back to Indonesia to get married, and within one year after the marriage, she got pregnant. For that reason, Nana decided to take a temporary absence until she gave birth. During her absence, some of her shakaijin (working-adult) colleagues helped her continue the study and research by giving reference materials. This action from her colleagues was done so that, if she returned in the next term, she could catch up with the rest of the study.

After the pregnancy and giving birth, there was another important event that she experienced. That event was about deciding to wear hijab, which was actually a breakthrough for Nana. Being a born-Muslim did not make her wear hijab automatically when she had arrived at her puberty. Although her mother never forced her to wear hijab, she always inquired her about wearing one as a reminder because it is basically a duty for a Muslim woman. "When are you going to wear one?" asked her mother. And it was actually living in Japan that made her decide to wear hijab. One of the reasons for her to wear hijab was that she had a Japanese friend who converted to Islam and she wore hijab proudly. "She's a mualaf (a person who converts to Islam) and she wears veil. Well covered. Compared to me who's a Muslim since I was born, I'm uncovered," Nana felt ashamed that she was not as faithful to her religion despite of the fact that she was born as a Muslim. The second reason was that, after Nana had her first child, she noticed the appearance of her friends. Nana had been attending pengajian (Islamic Recitation Group) and realized that her friends in the pengajian were all already wearing hijab. She was the only one who wore the hijab only during the pengajian. After seeing her friends having no problems with hijab, such as breastfeeding their babies while wearing hijab, Nana made a decision that she must wear one, too. She wanted to be as comfortable as her friends in breastfeeding her baby while wearing hijab. When Nana tried to wear hijab, her five months old daughter at that time recognized her and smiled at her. This made her even more determined in wearing hijab. His husband did not even oppose her in the decision, but instead he asked if Nana was completely determined or not, "You're going to wear veil? Are you sure?" Nana only answered 'Insyaallah' while praying that she was never to be moved to uncover her hijab.

After having her first child, Nana realized some changes in her life. The first is the relationship with her new family after wearing hijab, which will be explained afterwards. The second one is concerning more on the Halal food. She stated that in the early years living in Japan, she has been eating non-halal products a lot, such as chicken at fast food restaurants, as long as they were not pork. "I even went eating at KFC," she laughed. But since she was married, especially after having a child, Nana became more concerned about halal food and tried to be more careful in selecting halal products. Besides, acquiring halal meat nowadays is very easy. There are some methods to acquire these halal meat or products, for example, by buying at the Gyomu Supa (supermarket for business retail). There are also Muslim friends who provide halal meat through pre-order method, and also halal stores provide delivery services throughout Japan. Other than concerning about the daily-consumed halal products, Nana is also concerned a little about cosmetics. She is usually not very strict in choosing cosmetics, as long as they are suitable for her sensitive skin. But, for aging skin care that contains collagen, she will always make sure of the ingredients first for the collagen before buying. But recently she uses Momohime, halal cosmetics and orders them through an online shop. "The products are expensive but great. Today I just asked them to send some products again." Further, regarding medicines and vitamins, Nana admits that she is a moderate vitamin consumer and is not too choosy, because if it is for health, any options are permissible. "Ki ni shinai (I don't care). Shou ga nai (it can't be helped). Anyhow, it's for kenkou (health), because as long as it is for health it doesn't matter." This was the same with the case when she gave birth to her child. During the intensive check ups, she always saw a female doctor, but just when she gave birth, the only available doctor at that time was a male doctor, hence the procedure followed the same way.

The situation Nana faced was that she had no other choice but seeing a male doctor or staff, which was considered as an emergency event. Even though she says she has no problems with encountering male staff, actually she feels awkward and shy. For example, when she goes out to buy women's sanitary napkins, if the cashier is a male, she would comment, "Why, male?" She is hesitant at first, but she reassures herself and proceeds with the payment. In her mind, it is only one of the staff's jobs and the thing that she buys is women's need, so it is not necessary to be embarrassed. Other than awkwardness that she feels, Nana is also impressed with how the Japanese puts the sanitary napkins in a different covered plastic bag, "Aite no kimochi (other party's feeling), chanto wakatte kureru (kindly understanding). That's good." But there is one situation that she feels uncomfortable with, and that is about the no boundaries in making relationships between male and female in Japan. Especially, in every corner in Japan, there will always be an area with people who wander around the city to find a one-night stand partner. In Shizuoka City, there is such an area and Nana admits that, when she was in Nihonggo Gakkou, she used to pass by the area with her friends. But, after she was married, it never happened, especially when taking the kids out. Another concern that is related with the opposite sex is about going to beauty salon. Nana realizes that, if she wears hijab, she will not have the freedom to go to beauty salon as she used to. Nana often went to beauty salon before she wore hijab, but since now she wears hijab, she will have to have her hair cut in Indonesia or she needs to find a beauty salon that does not have a male staff. She went searching for beauty salons with such condition and she found one near Higashi Shizuoka Station, an exclusive salon called Noah with only one female staff and reservation was required. "So, she doesn't have any assistants and there were no other okyaku san (guest) when I came. So I guess that's how the system was made, it was safe," she says, reviewing about the salon.

Indeed, having children definitely has changed Nana's life a lot. At the first time she decided to wear hijab, she knew that it would have an impact on her daughter too. "Daughters are to follow her parents," she says. After her wearing hijab, her eldest daughter began to follow her wearing hijab, too. The child even decided which to wear as her own dress. "I want to be oshare (dressed-up nicely)! Mama, how do you think, niau (does it match)?" Even in summer, when Nana was concerned about the possibility that her daughter might suffer necchushou (heatstroke), she advised her to wear short pants to school, but her daughter insisted on not wearing them, saying "Nande (why)! I want to wear that one! That dress!" Nana never forced her daughter to wear hijab and it was her daughter's own will to wear like her mother. That was why Nana explained to the school her daughter attended that she would sometimes wear hijab and might look different from other kids, and also that her daughter would not eat kyuushoku (school's meal) because of containing pork and ask for a room for prayer. Wearing hijab is actually an obligation for adult women, but Nana explains that this may be called renshuu (practice) for her daughter and the school allows it. "It's totally okay. Go ahead, if you please." Other than concerns about her daughter's different appearance, Nana was also concerned about the ijime (bully) case that might happen to her daughter. But so far there happened nothing to her daughter at school, and there was nothing more than asking why her daughter brought her own bentou (bento/lunch box) to school and she would politely answer her classmate, "Because your meal contains buta niku (pork), I don't eat it."

For Nana, her children and her family are the most important in her life. She remembers the fact that, when she used to be active in the organizational activity in the Shizuoka Muslim Association as one of the lecturers in their Kids Program, though it was an important duty for the Muslim children, her children and family came first. "But then, my condition was dropping down by doing all of those activities. I got tired easily, plus I have kids too, right? I knew that we were lacking of lecturers, but family's first, so I asked permission to quit." Nana admits that she was quite involved in the Islamic activities with the people from the Shizuoka Muslim Association, but now she reduces all of those because of her own activities. Nana is currently working as a part-time worker in a plastic factory, where she has been allocated to a job in kensa (inspection) division. She works four days a week, which means she has three free days for her family and other activities. Outside of working, she also participates in pan kyoushitsu (bread-making class) with some other Indonesian Muslim women. Having those two sorts of activities and taking care of children and husband at the same time is quite exhausting. Especially when Nana's condition is dropping, everything will be a disaster in an instant. "I'd easily fall tired and catch fever... especially since I have to prepare bentou for kids, too in the morning, so I need to take care of myself and avoid being sick," she says. This shows that family is really important for Nana. Whenever they have the chance to spend time together, they would sometimes take a walk around the city. Once, an unfortunate event occurred to Nana and her family while taking a walk in the city. It was in a crossing near the Granship, when a Japanese elderly woman approached her. "She has such a strange appearance, wears thick glasses and weird hair style, riding a bicycle and then stopped." Normal Japanese people would greet and ask simple questions such as 'where do you come from?' or something, but this woman suddenly murmured, and several times she uttered 'ISIS' towards Nana and her family. Of course, Nana and her family ignored this person and left immediately. In fact, for ten years living in Japan, this experience might be the first of having inappropriate treatment from the Japanese. In Nana's current company, she has never been questioned about her appearance or judged about her faith. She is even allowed to wear hijab in the company. As the only employee who wears hijab, she is also allowed to perform prayer in a place although small, which the company provided her. Her company also often holds nomikai (drinking party) and if Nana decides to join the nomikai, the company will instantly reserve a restaurant with kaisen (seafood) menu. "Anyway, if I put maru (circle mark), the staff in charge of mise (restaurant) will understand what is permissible for me."

So far, Nana feels that the people around her quite understand about her being a Muslim and she thinks that she can socialize quite well with them, too. For example, she currently lives in a danchi (multi-unit apartments) and she is often chatting with her next door's neighbor and her neighbor also often gives some food to her family. This also proves that living side by side with the Japanese is not a big problem for Nana and her family. Well, not only living side by side with the Japanese, but also socializing with other Muslims from other countries, too. Around three years ago, a female acquaintance from Bangladesh passed away here in Shizuoka. "When we went to see off the passed away, we were really surprised. There were no women but only men who prayed for the body. I just realized that we have different bunka (culture), like in Arab, where women aren't to go out, only men will pray." Nana says about her seeing off the passed away with some of her female Muslim Indonesian friends for the first time. In Indonesia, there is a tradition where everyone would gather to see off the passed away, but for the Bangladesh people, it was only the men who were allowed to see off the passed away. So, it was quite a new experience for Nana.

2.1.2. Sita

Sita is a Muslim from Indonesia who has already been living in Japan for eleven years. She is a married woman with a six-year old son. Her current activities are around being a housewife at home and a part-time worker. Sita was married in 2010 and since then she had been wearing hijab. The decision of wearing hijab came from her own idea because she noticed that it was about the time she wore hijab. "Well, nobody knows when hidayah (blessing) comes down upon us," she says. Other than that, every woman from her family was already wearing hijab, so it was a supplementary reason to wear one. Her husband was joyful to hear her decision and he said, "Good, then I have less sin to bear." But, even though this was a good thing, of course, Sita was also worried about having jobs. When she was not wearing hijab yet, she used to work at konbini (convenience stores) and mise (restaurants), but now it is no longer a work that she can do. She actually loved jobs related to sekkyaku (serving customers directly) type, but with her new appearance it might not be possible anymore, so she applied for her current job at a supermarket. At first the interview went smooth, but in the process of concrete talking about hiring her as an employee, it took a longer time than usual. "Before I wore hijab, it was always quick. Two or three days after the interview, they would immediately call me, but this time it took time and I wondered if they were hiring me or not," explained Sita. But it was worth waiting, because after more than a week, Sita was called and told that she was hired. Although she was hired, the people at her workplace were also surprised at her appearance. She said that people would normally think her hijab was removable so that she could wear the supermarket's uniform at her workplace, but in fact it is irremovable. Nevertheless, she was hired anyway and was put in the kitchen division to make sushi.

As previously mentioned, Sita loves the sekkyaku type jobs, because she wants to practice her Japanese and because she likes to talk. When she was hired at this supermarket, she had no idea whether she could have her ideal job or not, but it turned out to be the perfect one. It has been five years since Sita started to work at this supermarket and she remains covering her head while at work, and she talks a lot with other employees. "I wear this turtle-neck manset (long-sleeves inner t-shirt) at work so that my neck is covered. I'm wearing a cap, so my hair won't show," says Sita. And it is actually a warm workplace, because everyone talks to each other at work and they are often having a short break to eat snacks together. They are all talking like a family and even sometimes talk about Islam and Sita's choice of appearance. From these chats, the employees and Sita could get to know more of each other. Therefore in events like Ramadan, Sita does not have any difficulties in performing her duty. As a matter of fact, when there is this snack time during a break, one of other employees kindly wraps up the snacks for Sita to bring home and then she can eat them at home when she is breaking the fast.

Even though Sita is working, her main duty is taking care of her child and husband. That is why she takes a half-day work so that she can have the rest of the day to care her family. Since her son is still in the kindergarten, Sita must take him to the school by herself and pick him up. She will also need to take his son to a les (extracurricular lesson), too, once a week. At his son's school, not only her son is often called gaijin (foreigner), but also Sita is often surrounded by other kids and commented about her hijab, and she will respond wisely saying, "It is cute, isn't it?" Because Sita knows that, if she answers whether she is a Muslim or it's called hijab, the children will ask more and more because children at their age are at the most crucial stage of having curiosity. That is why Sita only answers lightly with a smile and the children will pass. Indeed, wearing a hijab is uncommon in Japan. Moreover for the people who wear it, it is not that easy to obtain hijab in Japan. For Sita, she always buys her hijab in Indonesia when she returns to Indonesia or has them delivered from Indonesia. Sometimes Sita will also buy long scarves at Uniqlo to mix and match her hijab collection. Getting hijab is not easy, but Sita tries not to think about it too hard, either.

Sita also mentions about her other activities. She sometimes does presentations about Indonesia or does work as tsuyaku (interpreter). But, those are side jobs. Where there is an offer, Sita would do it. Sita also tells that she used to join pengajian (Islamic Recitation Group) with other Muslim women in Shizuoka. But not anymore, because there were times when arguing about who is taking care of food or cleaning the trash is longer than the pengajian itself, and Sita just could not take it anymore. "It's much better if I don't come, or else it will be a ghibah (gossip)," she says. Other reason was that her house was located too far to reach the Musalla, where the pengajian was held. As an option, Sita chose to participate in the same forum through Facebook. If there were events or donations needed, Sita would respond immediately and, if she could do something, she would gladly donate. Even though Sita does not participate too much in the pengajian, she still has good relationship with the other women. Currently, she is participating in a bread-making class with some of her Muslim women fellows from the pengajian. Actually, this bread-making activity is like a hobby for her. She even considers that one day she can sell halal breads with her friends, because halal breads are still very limited nowadays.

Talking about halal products, this is, of course, a big concern for Sita, especially since she has a child who is going to school and is going to be provided with school meals during lunchtime. Sita told her child's teacher to allow her to bring different food for her son, because their family did not consume pork or alcohol or anything related. The teacher allowed it and in lunchtime, the teacher would transfer the food from the tappa (plastic ware) to the school's plate so that every kid would eat from the same plate. Sita's son was said that he never realized that his different meal was actually her mother's cooking. In the daily life, Sita buys halal meat or halal products from her friend in Yaizu who will deliver the ordered goods directly to her house, but she also sometimes buys through online shop whenever her friend's stock is not available. So, there are alternatives. Even buying fish or vegetables, Sita can just go to the nearest supermarket, and she does not need to buy from the halal shop either. Although some stuff is still limited, actually halal products are abundant in Japan. Sita says that she always check on Facebook about halal items, "The page is called Serijaya. You can see so many lists of halal products there." So, it is quite easy to think about choosing halal products.

Basically, a Muslim will not eat pork, drink alcohol, and consume anything that is rooted from pork and alcohol. Although chicken and beef are allowed, if they are not slaughtered in the Islamic way, they cannot be consumed as well. Even a capsule of medicine is considered to be questionable for consumption. This capsule may be made from pork's part and then turned into a gelatin, which is then used as the part of the capsule. This kind of medicine is inconsumable and need to be avoided. The Japanese might be curious as to why Muslims cannot consume pork or alcohol. Regarding this, Sita is often asked the following questions. "Still confused to answer properly in details. I usually only answer because it's God's command and I'm only performing my duty to fulfill it," she explains. Other Muslim's duties include performing prayer, fasting and wearing hijab for the women. Each and every duty has its own rules. For Muslim women, once they wear hijab, they must not show their hair and other body parts and have physical contact with the opposite sex who is not a blood-relative. Other than husband, son, father, grandfather and uncle, a woman cannot show her body to them. After wearing hijab, Sita does not go to beauty salon anymore to have hair treatment. Before she wore hijab, she used to go to have her hair cut at beauty salon, but now she does not go there anymore. One of the reasons is to fully perform her duty as a Muslim woman who wears hijab.

Although it was previously mentioned about the fact that women are unable to have physical contact with non-blood relatives, it is a must but not inflexible. Sita tells about her experience with doctors in Japan, especially when she gave birth in Japan. She often went to see doctors whenever she felt unwell, and at these times she could choose female doctors. When she was pregnant, she went to see female doctors during the consultation session. During giving birth, however, when an immediate act of caesarean section was necessary, her doctors and surgeons were mostly males. At that time, in such an emergency, there was nothing to be done and, according to the Islamic teaching, it was forgiven. "I didn't know anything about this kind of surgery and I wasn't prepared. I was even shocked to know that I had to wear nothing for this surgery, but shou ga nai (it can't be helped), for the sake of my child's birth," Sita explained.

2.1.3. Eni

At the beginning of the interview, Eni introduced herself primarily as a housewife who had a side job. She prefers that kind of expression. Currently Eni is an employee of a company that runs in a travel field. Her current company, CSA Travel, is originally a fudousanya (real estate agent) company, which is responsible for renting houses for residence purpose. The new travel division is meant for a completely different purpose, which is to provide lodging for tourists in the area of Mochimune, Shizuoka, especially for Muslim tourists because there is a mosque going to be built in Mochimune. Eni admits that she is still completely new with this job because, so far, she has been doing many freelance jobs only. Previously Eni spent more time in hopping from one company to another to do her job, which was a freelance interpreter for kenshuusei (trainee), but now Eni is settled. She began to work in this company because it was introduced by SIBA (Shizuoka International Business Association) and she just applied to the company to undergo an interview and then she got the job. The current company's shacho (president director) is also very considerate towards Islamic values. When Eni had a job interview with this company, she asked if she could have ten minutes' break to do prayer during her work and then the shacho allowed her to use any empty rooms in the company for her prayer. Besides, nowadays halal products are becoming more popular and one of shacho's interests is to attract more Muslim tourists to come to Mochimune. Other than the lodgings, shacho also works with the local ice cream shop to sell an ice cream with Shizuoka's characteristic products shirasu (young sardines) and wasabi (horse radish) yet edible for Muslims and other tourists.

Eni also tells about some of her other experiences in applying for part-time jobs in the past. She used to apply for arubaito (part-time job) in a supermarket around 9 years ago and was hired. Eni was wearing hijab at that time and during the interview there was no discussion about the hijab at all. But on the day when she was supposed to start working, her tenchou (manager) mentioned about her hijab, because he thought that it would not be a matter whether Eni wore the hijab or not. She was asked to unveil her headscarf and wear the sankaku nuno (some kind of bandana), but then she explained that she couldn't unveil it. Luckily, the people from the supermarket supported her to continue working even though her appearance would be different from others. "If that's the case, next time you must wear a black headscarf, don't wear the patterned one. Over your headscarf, you can wear the sankaku nuno," said one of the employees. From then on, Eni started to work in the hall area mainly arranging the products on the shelves and sticking discount stickers on products, which means Eni will attend customers sometimes. "I work from five to nine in the evening and that's souzai (side dish/delicatessen) time, the time for sticking nebiki (price reduction), waribiki (discount) stickers, that's part of my job," she says. For one year working in the supermarket, Eni admits that she is quite content with the experience. She could interact with the customers, although some of them would be quite surprised when they see Eni's different appearance. But there were some customers who were kind to her, giving her a merchandise only for thanking Eni for doing such a great job everyday sticking the discount stickers. There was also a Japanese couple, who intentionally stopped by the supermarket only for greeting Eni without buying anything. These were precious experiences for Eni.

But there were not always good things to happen, and Eni also had unpleasant experiences. For example, when she applied for other arubaito, several times she was declined because of her hijab. Eni says that she loves jobs that relate her with the customers. That way she can keep practicing her Japanese language skill. So, whenever she applies, she always passes the interview, but the moment she mentions about hijab, the pass stamp is no longer valid. "It's okay for you to wear hijab, but please take it off during working." According to Eni, around four years ago there were not so much information on halal products and on Islam, so it was kind of a surprise to see someone with hijab. That was why many places she tried to apply to all said no to her application. She applied to konbini (convenience store) and restaurants, but all of them did not employ her. She applied as kitchen staff at a restaurant with the hope of being able to wear long-sleeved uniform or something like that, but was not employed yet. The restaurant she applied to was a small one, which usually let the kitchen staff also do work in the hall, therefore wearing hijab was not encouraged because it would make the customer uncomfortable. But then, Eni kept trying until she got a position as a kitchen staff in a souzaiya shop (delicatessen shop) for toasting breads. When she is working, she will wear a cap that will cover her whole hair and head, a mask and long-sleeved uniform. In this bread store, Eni worked from five in the morning until ten for five days in a week and for six years long. The store itself is located in Shizuoka Station, formerly named Cafe Denmark, currently named Little Mermaid.

Next, Eni tells about her experience on hijab. Eni has been wearing hijab since she was in Junior High School, because in Indonesia she had been to Islamic School since Elementary School. The habit of wearing hijab was continued to High School, even though it was not an Islamic School. She has already been accustomed so that she has continued wearing one until now. But Eni also tells that she once felt downhearted for wearing hijab. On the second year since she was in Japan, she unveiled her hijab for a year. She says, "Because I don't think I perform prayer properly, and then at work too, I deal with pork or anything that is haram, so inside me I feel like I don't deserve (to wear hijab)." After uncovering her hijab, Eni thought that she would feel more relieved from the burden she felt, but she was wrong. In fact, the burden was felt twice bigger. It was when she was still in the Japanese Language School, that the sensei and friends around her supported and encouraged her. "They were not giving the type of ouen (support) like 'Come on, wear hijab again,' no, only tried to involve me with more activities," she admits. After a year of unstable emotion, Eni decided to return to Indonesia after graduating.

Two years after having been back in Indonesia, Eni actually returned to Japan again, being this time as a brand new Eni. During her stay back at home, Eni took an extension of Undergraduate Program in a university in Indonesia for two years. During that time, she did not wear hijab yet, but when she graduated from the university, she got married and afterwards she wore hijab again. It was the marriage that made her feel reborn again as a Muslim. "I guess because there were the two of us now, I kind of feel lighter, easier," she admits. Afterwards, Eni continued her life in Japan with her husband normally. As a matter of fact, Eni really loves to interact with people, and meeting people and sharing knowledge are really her interest and because of that, Eni participates in a lot of social activities. When Eni returned to Japan again, she took a kamoku rishuusei (Special Register Student) class in Tokoha University and studied there for one year. Besides of studying, of course, Eni also did arubaito and participated in a lot of voluntary works. She says, "Well, because of not having children, just like I said, work from five to ten, then I have a lot of free time, because I'm under my husband's visa, which is limited, right? Only twenty-eight hours a week. So, I spend my free time, such as volunteering at Elementary Schools." At Elementary Schools Eni would come during the shakai kamoku (Social Subject) class and explain about basic Islam and school children in Indonesia. As Eni went to the schools, she was really glad that the children's reaction to her wearing hijab was not that negative. This was probably because children were pure, and they would comment anything just purely without judging. "I was often called ninja!" she says while laughing. Other than this, Eni also joined the volunteer group for Daidougei (Street Art Performance) or opened a class at Aicel (Shizuoka City Women's Community Center) for the Japanese people who were interested in learning about Indonesian traditional food and culture. There, Eni would be the main speaker.

In the daily life, Eni admits that there has been nothing bothering her, meaning that she can socialize and blend with the Japanese well and she thinks she has never been treated inappropriately since she came to live in Japan. As a matter of fact, Eni lives her life just like other normal women. Eni likes to go shopping and cooking. Basically she is doing the things she likes. Eni really likes to make handmade items, such as wallet, book cover, and many others. She can spend hours staying in a store with handcraft materials. "In summer, there's a pool in Ooya, right? If people love to go swimming, I love to go to these handmade stores. It's refreshing for me," she says. Other than crafting items, Eni also loves to cook. It is one of her biggest hobbies that is now also applied at her work, serving the guests at the lodging for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For cooking, Eni is selective in the ingredients. Of course, she will choose halal meat, which she can buy online, and avoid ingredients like mirin (sweet rice wine) because it contains alcohol. But when she eats out, although she can avoid pork or any menu with meat, sometimes there is food that might still contain mirin. At that time, she would just eat it because it is difficult to avoid everything. "If the choumiryou (seasonings) contains mirin or something, it's difficult. Some says, if it is heated, the alcohol is tobasu (ridded). So, the alcohol percentage is decreased, hobo nai (roughly none), my friends said," Eni explains. Other products that Eni is concerned about are medicine. She will always tell that, if she is to be given medicines, she needs medicines that do not contain pork. Fortunately, there is not much of such medicine, according to the doctor she consults with. And usually women will also have concerns about her toiletry needs, but Eni is in fact not like other women. She does not even have milk cleansing for her face, since, when she bought it once, it turned out that it contained pork after she confirmed the fact at the manufacturer's customer service. But the point is not that she wants to avoid non-halal products. It is her lifestyle actually. Her husband while laughing even comments, "Are you a woman or not?" because she only shares toothpaste, soap, shampoo and husband's facial foam with her husband.

Living in Japan, Eni sometimes gets feedback from the people in her surroundings. For example, when Eni is fasting during the Ramadan, people will consider about her and ask if she is okay fasting without drinking at all. When she is speaking in a culture class, she will be asked various questions about Islam. There, Eni would try her best to explain to them about basic Islam, what are not supposed to do and what are pardoned in Islam. In Islam, there is a teaching that those who are non-mahram (unmarriageable kin) are not allowed to have physical contact with each other, but there are times when it is pardoned because of certain situations. "For example, I have to sotomawari (do outside work) with my douryou (coworker), male partner, ride the car, it's fine," she says. The point is, if we women set a 'border', naturally we will have the same reaction from men, as long as we do not have wrong intentions. In such a case as going to see a doctor, if possible, we should get female doctors, but in an emergency, it is pardoned to have a male doctor to check on us. So, basically that is how Islam is and Eni always tries her best in explaining about these to the Japanese. And, in Islam, women's privacy is extremely important, as shown in such a case as going to beauty salon as an example. As previously mentioned, there are things that are not supposed to do in Islam. Showing body parts to the opposite sex except mahram for Muslim women who especially wear hijab is forbidden. That is why some Muslim women who wish to get groomed sometimes find it hard to have privacy in going to beauty salon. Luckily, Eni has a friend in Shizuoka City, who lives not far from her apartment, owns a beauty salon for women or at least serve for women by reservation. The friend is a Japanese and this is very helpful for Muslim women if sometimes they need to refresh themselves by having hair treatment. "But yeah, the lady is a bit old, so the style too is kind of old. But, not bad for a refreshing, I could have hair treatment," Eni says.

Lastly, Eni tells about her current living environment. Basically, she lives in apaato (apartment) with Japanese people mostly in the surroundings, but there are also other people from other countries living in the apartment too, such as Philippines, Nepal and Indonesia as the majority. This is because she already befriends the Oya-san (owner), and is often asked for help to promote the apartment whenever there are vacant rooms and Eni always promotes the apaato to her Indonesian friends. For Eni, it is important to keep in touch with her Indonesian friends, too, because God knows what will happen among them. Eni usually gathers with her Indonesian friends at pengajian (Islamic Recitation Group) and shares Islamic knowledge and activities. Also when it comes to important events such as attending a friend's baby's funeral here in Shizuoka, she and her friends would work together trying to see if there is anything they can do to help. But the most important for her is to spend time with her husband. Because now both are working, there is not much time for them to leisure together. That is why, whenever there is free time, Eni would prefer to spend time only with her husband.

2.1.4. Miho

As a Japanese who converted to Islam, Miho tells a lot of interesting experiences and stories about her life. Miho starts with her story about her journey in becoming a Muslim. It was when she was in the U.S. as a foreign student for three years. At the beginning, she was interested in Islam because of her Muslim woman friend. She thought that her friend was such a role model for her and that was why she decided to learn about Islam. She then joined a Muslim community and studied Islam with them and then was encouraged to wear hijab. She says, "So, I had an ideal figure (of a Muslim woman), I want to be like them, I want to be a Muslim by wearing hijab." Within this community, Miho found strength in being a Muslim and felt confident to be one. And then, Miho became a Muslim at the age of twenty-four. Not long after she became a Muslim, Miho met her soul mate, who is her current husband now. She got engaged with the man before she made a return to Japan.

Returning to Japan, Miho brought a big surprise for her own family because she converted to Islam and especially was already wearing hijab. Miho indicates that her mother was the one who opposed her the most in being a Muslim, moreover wearing hijab. After Miho returned to Japan, she lived in Tokyo and worked there and sometimes in the weekend she would visit her parents in Shizuoka. When she was at work or alone at home, Miho would wear hijab in her daily life. But, when she visited her parents, she would take the hijab off, because her parents did not like it. She says that this was to respect her parents' opinion and she does not want to push her faith to her family at that time. Although, while she was working in Tokyo, she was allowed to wear a uniform that was different from other employees or use an empty conference room for performing prayer or even wear hijab, she did not wear hijab when she entered the company. Miho was faced with internal conflict because of her parents' astonishment. On one hand, she wanted to keep her faith as a Muslim because that was what she believed in, and on the other hand, her parents were worried about what people would say if they knew she was her parents' daughter. That was acceptable because Miho indeed had an unusual appearance because of converting, even when she was in Tokyo, she was considered to have a unique appearance with her hijab and a big nose pierce. "Wearing hijab is not the only item to make you Muslim, you know, it's something else, it's your faith, it's your insight," she confesses. And then, a year after having worked and lived in Tokyo, Miho returned to the U.S. and got married and lived in the U.S. for a while. Getting married and being back in the U.S., back to her old community's environment, made Miho's life easier. She admits that, when she returned to the U.S., she was calmed and gained strength in having more faith. After living for a while in the U.S. and having her first child, Miho returned to Japan with her new family. Well, of course, if she returned to Japan, it meant she had to live with her parents temporarily before she was settled and it meant she had to face the conflict with her parents again about her faith, but this time she was more prepared.

Parents' love was everything, regardless of whatever her child's condition might be. After Miho brought her new family to her parents, she got an approval from them gradually. In the household, the parents might still feel awkward with Islamic rules about food, clothes, not to mention performing prayers, but step by step Miho's parents were being cooperative. At the beginning, Miho's parents felt so sad to see their grandchild could not eat just any food, not even snacks because sometimes they would contain pork essence. When she and her family were doing fasting, her parents were not. There were so many differences for which they had to catch up with each other. Afterwards, Miho's parents became more accustomed to Islamic teachings and now are becoming more selective and cautious especially in choosing food for the family. "Alhamdulillah, my mother began gradually to understand, to respect our faith, so we don't have those issues anymore," says Miho.

One barrier after another, Miho's conditions are now in the perfect phase. Although her family having overcome their conflict about her faith, Miho still has to face the surrounding Japanese society itself. Being a Muslim, which is a rare view in Shizuoka, and raising her children of half Japanese and half Moroccan blood is not an easy task, but no matter what a challenge there might be, that must be accepted. Miho and her husband started to concern about their children's future, about the environment they will grow in and keeping their faith at the same time. Miho decided to gather every Muslim she could find in Shizuoka City and started a mission in enlarging the Muslim community in Shizuoka City. If this community proves a success, Miho and her husband will be blessed with two things. The first is to have a good Muslim environment for her children and other Muslim families in Shizuoka and the second is to promote the Muslims to the Japanese society. Miho and her husband were finally able to gather the Muslims and established the Shizuoka Muslim Association in 2010. The community became an organization and there were so many activities inside, such as studying the Quran for the women program, Kids program, and then also the communal studying for the rest of the organization's members. For three years, the activities were held in different places, such as renting rooms or in members' houses in rotation, until they were settled in one place. "Alhamdulillah in 2013 we were able to rent a place for Musalla. With a solid address, we can have solid funding for the masjid and organizational activities," Miho explains. It seems that Miho really strives for a great cause and she is extremely serious in doing this.

The organization is a precious thing for Miho. Just as she herself is a Muslim, it has privacy and it needs to be respected and when privacy is violated, anyone naturally will make an effort to protect it. So, there were hate letters addressed to the Shizuoka Muslim Association, which were intimidating and filled with racism. For Miho, even though it was not personally addressed to her, she was hurt because it meant that people were very 'subjective' toward Islam and Muslims in Japan, including her. It was very disappointing, but at the same time it made Miho and her other fellow Muslims to tighten their bond even more. This was, by far, the most hurtful attitude toward Muslims since she moved back to Shizuoka in 2006. As a matter of fact, Miho experienced many interesting things as a Muslim. One of her funny experiences was when she was approached by another Japanese and asked which country she came from, receiving a comment that her Japanese was considered perfect. Of course, this was a hilarious moment and Miho slowly explained that she was a Japanese and she was a Muslim. "Nihongo jouzu desu ne (Your Japanese is perfect)! Dochira no kuni kara desu ka (Where do you come from)?" She explained about the reaction from the Japanese to her. It seems that Miho has the urge to tell everyone that she is a normal person just like everyone else, and only she is now with a faith that she believes in. Miho has a job, has a family, treats her family well, has concerns, and communicates, just as a normal person would do.

Miho explains that as a woman, she is like any other women and buys monthly woman's needs such as cosmetics, toiletries, sanitary napkins or even vitamins. Miho also shops for clothes in stores like Uniqlo and also do groceries in supermarkets or drugstores like Welcia or Valor or Gyomu Supa (supermarket for business retail) like a usual housewife. But, the difference between Miho and other women or housewives is about buying halal products. As a Muslim, it is very important to prevent oneself from consuming prohibited items in Islam, such as pork, alcohol and everything else that contains substances from pork and alcohol. That is why Miho is selective in the items she uses or consumes everyday, especially the ones that are also consumed with her family. For cosmetics and toiletries though, Miho chooses organic products to avoid gelatin or collagen-based products. For vitamins and medicines, she avoids those that contain gelatin, or if the medicines are prescribed, she would just accept it the way it is. She also mentions that she goes to beauty salon once in a while, not very often because she does not really have the time and she thinks that prioritizing her family is better than spending time for herself. This is also very interesting. Miho wears hijab and, once she does, she cannot show her unveiled look to the opposite sex unless they are family or husband or children. So, when Miho goes to the beauty salon, since most salons in Japan always have male and female staffs, she always ask for a special place in the corner and only female staff should take care of her. But after several times having been to such a beauty salon, Miho found a fellow Muslim woman who owns a beauty salon and would do the service for her privately.

This subject about attitude towards the opposite sex is really important for Miho, especially to educate her children. In this modern era, it is very common in Japan that both women and men are very easy to have physical contact as if there were no more boundaries between them. Miho teaches her children not to imitate these behaviors, saying that, even if they are common in television, that does not mean it can be justified. "Although it's everywhere, it's inappropriate. Because, really, you get brainwashed by those things, when you see it often everywhere and popular, you think you start feeling that's okay, that's the scary part," Miho says. The point is, she wants her children to be protected from things that are prohibited in Islam and they are prohibited for sensible reasons. Miho herself had an experience where a stranger, a man, approached her and touched her hijab and shoulder while standing so closely to her. For Miho, this was a very offensive attitude towards her. She does not want this kind of event to occur to her children, and that is why she teaches her children the basic knowledge about this. Luckily, her children are responsive to this matter and one day they even protested to their mother about a photo where Miho stood closer to the other male than her husband accidentally. "In that picture, when my kids saw it, 'Mum! Why are you so close to this man other than your husband? It's not good!" Miho told about her children's reaction. As a matter of fact, Miho is quite strict with this matter and tells that women in Japan actually have options to avoid these unnecessary physical contacts. Miho claims that she gave birth to her children with a midwife, not a doctor in a hospital. She says that she wants to have a full treatment from female staffs from the beginning of her pregnancy until laboring and post-laboring. In her opinion, this choice that she took was very important because, in the end, it was the staffs that adjusted their schedule for the patient, and not otherwise. "But, when you go to the hospital, you know, the nurses always work by the shift, it's always done by the group, everything always have to go by their timing not your timing," Miho explains. But, even though Miho is very strict about this issue, she says that it does not matter for her to go to see a male doctor for her nose, although she would still prefer female doctor to male doctor.

Miho is also concerned about other things in her children's life, such as socializing with other kids and the products that they consume outside instead of the ones that are prepared at home. One of her children joins a soccer club and sometimes the school will hold a soccer camp and of course in the middle of the camp there would be a meal break. Sometimes Miho would accompany her child and she would communicate with the teachers and other parents about her family's situation, namely the religious norms of not eating pork or pork-related food. Luckily, the teachers and the other parents respect this and they even ask Miho to explain to them what are allowed and not allowed. "They're like very modest in trying to learn," Miho says, "So, Alhamdulillah those kinds of talk I experience a couple times, I feel like, uh, those are necessary and sometimes challenging but, when you try to be sincere and polite and modest, things are just going to be well, you know, they understand." Another concern for Miho about her children is regarding how the children will later socialize with the larger society, because they all grow each every year. Miho hears from another Muslim family living with a child going to the junior high school in Shizuoka, that kids about that age would start to learn attacking or bullying other kids and call the poor child 'Islam terrorist' and things like that. So, for Miho, it is a very big concern about her child who is going to go to the junior high school next year.

Born as the second child of four in the family, Miho feels blessed that currently her parents and brothers and sisters are supporting her as a Muslim woman. She has been a Muslim for eighteen years and that is a blessing, although she feels that she still has so many lacks of things. Since the beginning she decided to wear hijab, she was determined to show to her children a good Muslim household she has. First, to educate the children wearing hijab properly is a must for a woman when she is on coming of age, and it is also important to teach the children to live side by side with other people peacefully without pushing Islam as a faith to other people. It is also Miho's principle to help each other, especially among the fellow Muslim brothers or sisters whenever they need help. For example, when there were several fellow Muslim people who passed away in Shizuoka, Miho and other members of the Shizuoka Muslim Association would support the family left by giving a proper burial service. One of the passed away was a woman and Miho helped performing ghusl (washing the body of the dead) before the body was buried in the cemetery in Shimizu. All of these are also part of Islamic teachings and Miho believes that there are more to learn, not only internally among the Muslims living in Shizuoka, but also in making good relationships with the non-Muslim neighbors and the local residents.

2.1.5. Juri

Juri is a Japanese woman who has been married to a Palestinian Muslim. Before she was married to her current husband, she was already becoming a Muslim. She says that she likes listening to the sound of Holy Quran's verses being recited and that was one of the reasons she was interested in being a Muslim. She says, "The sound of it being recited is comfortable and peaceful." After Juri became Muslim, she married her husband not long afterwards. At their early stage of marriage, Juri did not wear hijab yet. She wanted to wear hijab just like other sisters in the mosque where she used to study about Islam, but she never had the confidence in wearing one yet. But, after she had her first son, who turned one year old, she was determined to wear the hijab on that day. "So, it's like a memory for myself and for my son's birthday, it's like connected," she says about choosing the date for her reminder on wearing hijab.

Juri and her husband used to live in Auckland, New Zealand for fifteen years, before they decided to move to Japan for a long term in 2016. One of the biggest reasons she and her family came to Japan was to take care of Juri's ninety-six year old grandmother. So, in Juri's household now, there are six family members, including Juri, her husband, her three children and the grandmother. With this kind of condition in the household, Juri automatically became a full-time housewife who supported her husband, children and grandmother. In her daily life, Juri mostly spends time preparing meals for her children and husband, and when everyone goes to school or work, she will take care of her grandmother, such as changing her diapers or taking her to see the doctor on her wheelchair. Basically, Juri is just an ordinary housewife, but she feels rather special herself because she is a Muslim now.

When Juri decided to become a Muslim, she told her family about it. Her father and brother were supportive toward her decision. Juri's father even told his daughter that he respected what his daughter believed and that she must have confidence in doing what she believed. Indeed, before Juri became a Muslim, she was a Buddhist but she never really practiced the Buddhist teachings. She even went to church several times, but she did not feel anything special by going to that place. After she learned about Islam and the Holy Quran, however, Juri realized that this was the right choice for her and her heart said so. When Juri decided to wear hijab, her father and brother were going to visit her in New Zealand, so Juri informed her father of her condition of wearing hijab before she went to meet him and pick him up at the airport. Her confirmation was for her father not being surprised, but her father's reaction was, "Yeah, okay, okay. No problem." It was a sign of support from Juri's father, but her mother was different. Juri's mother was against her decision in becoming a Muslim, moreover wearing a hijab. "She always speaks negatively and I don't want to hear about it. I've heard it before and I don't need to hear it anymore," says Juri. Even Juri's husband calls her a racist. It seems that Juri's mother is overthinking about her neighbor's opinions rather than accepting the condition of her daughter's family. Nevertheless, Juri still respects her mother and she never cuts her relationship with her mother.

Juri's concerns do not stop here, because there are more worrying things to face in living in Japan, such as children's education. Juri wants her children to have the proper education, academically and religiously. As a start, before moving to Japan, Juri contacted kyouiku iinkai (Board of Education) to research about which school is best for her kids. She researched if the school has many international kids or not, because she did not want her kids to feel being left out. Juri explained to the Assistant Principal whom she talked to before her kids entered the school, that her children would not be able to eat the school meal if the meal contains pork, alcohol and related ingredients, therefore, she would bring their own meal for her children. Juri deliberately did not mention about her being a Muslim, but from such a request, the Assistant Principal recognized it as due to a religious reason. Fortunately, it was allowed and even the children were allowed to use the library if they ever want to perform prayer. As we all know, Juri's children were all born in New Zealand and that made English as their first language. The next thing that concerned Juri was the language problem for the kids at school. One day, one of her boys complained to her, about the male students at his school who often talked nastily and also about their physical contact. Much concerned, Juri talked to the teacher about this matter, but of course, the teacher could not always monitor her son all the time. Meanwhile, Juri's son complained again to his mother, this time because his mother told everything to the teacher. "Why Mama told everything to Teacher? Don't interfere!" the son told his mother. It is natural for Juri to worry, because she knows that her child has a little bit language problems so that he cannot express himself well. Difficulty in communication is part of Juri's greatest concern.

The next thing that concerns Juri is about the religious education for her children. Unlike in New Zealand, where it was easy to get religious education even for adults because there were mosques, Islamic communities and Islamic activities every Friday or Sunday Schools, in Shizuoka it was totally different. Juri's husband is involved in the Shizuoka Muslim Association, but in the Association there is no longer Kids Program, so Juri's children cannot have lessons outside their house. "Sometimes kids need to learn outside from other people, not only from their parents, because kids get bored easily. Outside, they can study with other kids and not easy to forget," Juri says about her opinion. This situation makes Juri wish there should be more communities that help Muslim children actively learn about Islam. Juri is also reminded of her situation back in New Zealand, where everything was less strict and easily accepting something new, unlike in Japan. New Zealand is like Canada, a country with many cultures and languages and thus makes people respect each other's culture and way of thinking. In Japan, when there is a new culture coming, it is not easily accepted and the Japanese people are too afraid to implement the idea. As an example, two weeks ago Juri went to the City Hall with some Muslim ladies and they talked about school lunch with some people from the Board of Education, kyuushoku senta (School Meal Organization) and other people. One Japanese male told them that in Japan it was difficult to start something new if they do not have the basics or start from zero, because Japanese people do not want to take risks.

Another thing that is different from New Zealand is about getting permission. In New Zealand, Juri's children went to school with multicultural children of different races and religions and they were getting along well with each other. The school automatically provided the children's needs, such as prayer space at taiikukan (School's Gymnasium) whenever the children wanted to pray, and the children were free to do fasting during the Ramadan and there were even Islamic lessons once a week for the Muslim children. But, in Japan, if parents do not come to the school to tell the teacher about these religious matters, the children would probably be prohibited from doing anything without previous consent. That is why, two to three weeks before the Ramadan starts, Juri visits the school to tell the teacher about her children going to do fasting. Fortunately, this was allowed and even both of her sons managed to complete a whole month fasting. "It was very hot this year and last year as well, but this year my eldest one did it for one month completely. Second son, did it completely for one month this year for the first time. Even though he had a little bit headache or tummy pain, he wanted to do it, Alhamdulillah," says Juri.

Juri, who seems not to come out of the house too often, actually is sharing her husband's and children's pain in the society, especially that of her children. Juri's children are half Japanese and half Palestinian, but they have a Japanese look and they sometimes wonder if they are Japanese or gaijin (foreigner). Her children are often called gaijin either by fellow students or adults. Juri says that her daughter is the most sensitive about this. "Gaijin dakara wakaranai yo ne (you don't understand because you're foreigner), shou ga nai ne (can't be helped)," says Juri about one of the comments for her daughter. This is very sad and unacceptable but it is the fact. When Juri and her family decided to move to Japan, many people in her surroundings told her that they were moving to one of the best countries in the world. As a matter of fact, they were all wrong, because reality is not as beautiful as imagination. "People don't know what they are talking about, because here, it's us who face the reality," says Juri. Indeed, after living in Japan, her children seem to have less childhood than when they were in New Zealand. "In New Zealand, school holiday means no homework, here, too much homework. They used to play a lot with other kids, here, they don't see other kids that much," explains Juri. But, Juri wisely tells her children that everything that occurs to them in life during living in Japan will make them stronger in personality, because, if the children have felt the worse, their mental will be built better. Another comment from Juri, "We have good time here, but struggling as well."

Although Juri mainly tells about problems around her children, she also tells some of her experiences, too in Japan. As a woman, Juri might buy sanitary napkins for each monthly period. Here are the problems, namely, the male cashier and his son. When Juri sees a male cashier, she will wait until a female cashier is available, because she does not feel comfortable with a male cashier serving her. But, when it is an emergency, she will have no other choice. The second problem is her son being around her when she is buying sanitary napkins. He will ask questions loudly and keep asking until he is satisfied. For Juri, it is quite embarrassing, because the child is asking about woman's privacy and Juri thinks it is not yet the time for a twelve year old child to know. So, in that case, Juri will wait until her son is not looking at her any longer and she would pay for the napkins. "If I don't do that, he will not stop asking me about it," says Juri. And then, regarding woman care, Juri explains that she is not interested in buying makeups or stuffs, and she does not even go to a beauty salon. Well, that is because, in Japan, it is hard to find a beauty salon that is dedicated for women only and it is impossible to have her hair to be seen by the opposite sex. In New Zealand, Juri sometimes called over some Japanese ladies to her house to cut her hair, but in Japan she has not found any woman who can cut for her personally.

Juri also tells about how people in her surroundings react when they see her. When she was in New Zealand, it was a common thing that, if people approach her, they would ask about her appearance or her faith. Meanwhile in Japan, it never occurs. Instead, people talk secretly and comment about her appearance, such as 'Who is she? Is she a Japanese? Why is her Japanese so good?' This is by far the most inappropriate thing that ever happened to Juri. But Juri tries to take the positive side, because at least she has never been physically abused by anyone. When Juri spends her time playing table tennis with her family at chuo kaikan (Central Assembly Hall), they are usually with other Japanese people, but no one ever bothers her family. "Everyone was being normal," she says.

1 note · View note

actualmuslimwomen · 3 years

Text

2.2. Profiles of Muslim Students

2.2.1. Eneng

Eneng is currently a student of Business Management major at the University of Shizuoka. Her activities include studying in and outside campus, such as study meeting with people from small and medium enterprises. She is also involved in several functions such as Shinzen Taishi, which focuses on introducing Indonesian cultures to the Japanese at schools or events, and the Shizuoka Muslim Association, which is responsible for connecting the Muslim students in the University of Shizuoka and other Muslims who live especially in Shizuoka City. In this Association too, Eneng admits that she spent quite a lot of time with other Indonesian Muslims, because from these Muslims, not only information about Islam is available, but she also has the access to halal products such as halal meat and also Islamic apparels such as hijab and abaya (long dress for daily wear or to perform prayer).

Being a Muslim, there are many interesting stories before and after she came to Japan. Before she came to Japan, Eneng tells about her experience with hijab. Back at high school, her mother encouraged her to wear hijab because her mother thought that it was already her time to wear hijab. "You're an adult now," she said. She also said if Eneng wanted to go outside, and especially if it was far, she hadbetter wore hijab. At first, she did not wear the hijab properly, and sometimes she uncovered the hijab. The reason why she did this was because of the activity she was involved in, which was the Marching Band. In order to make a coordinated outfit and performance, Eneng decided to take off her hijab when performing. She confessed that she felt an internal conflict, knowing that it was prohibited yet she did it anyway. This happened during her first and second year in high school, but when she was in her third year, there was a little bit change that made her decide wear the hijab properly. Eneng participated in the school's Board of Students and one of the organization's events was a routine Islamic activity. Eneng already quit the Marching Band club and she participated in this Islamic activity a lot, which made her realize the importance of wearing hijab and it still goes on until now.

Other experiences related to hijab happened when she was already in Japan. When she first came to Japan, she used to be uncomfortable with people who glance or stare at her appearance. Some Japanese strangers even approached her several times and asked her about the hijab. Questions such as 'What is this?' 'You're a Muslim, right?' 'Isn't it hot?' are often asked. Among the strangers who approached her, some were already familiar with Islam because they experienced going to Indonesia or Malaysia. Eneng herself always try to reply politely to those people who ask her questions. But, after a few years living in Japan, she has already become used to such situation. For example, when she rides the train or bus, she always occupies herself with reading books or checking her phone to avoid people's stares.

For the Japanese, seeing someone with hijab is quite a peculiar view and that makes sense, because of the scarves or veils that these Muslim wear are rarely available in Japan. Eneng admits that she brought all of her hijab from Indonesia. "Because in Japan there are not so many religious muke (oriented), right?" Other than buying in Indonesia, she also sometimes buys hijab from the women in the Shizuoka Muslim Association. Some of the women sell religious apparels such as hijab, abaya, and many more. Some even run an online shop, and there they also sell halal meat and products. For any Muslims, this is a blessing because accessing halal meat is a luxury in Japan, and not every store in Japan would sell halal meat or products. Even when eating out in Shizuoka City itself, there are not many choices that can be taken. Eneng admits that when she wants to dine out, she only goes to Shoan, which sells soba and Bengal Kitchen, which sells various chicken menu. Luckily, her school activity is really busy. Eneng often eats at her campus, too. There is a Halal Corner in the school's cafeteria, which makes Eneng' life easier. "Because I'm busy with my thesis saikin (lately), I eat at the Halal Corner in Kendai. Always, if I go to campus everyday, I'd eat there."

In the daily life, Eneng also sometimes spend time with her friends or colleagues and they also often go and dine out together. Eneng also tells about her first experience eating out with her seniors (senpai) during the first year in Japan. She went to Sukiya, and her seniors assured her that the meat used in the restaurant were halal because they were sold at Gyomu Supa (supermarket for business retail). Since Eneng was a newcomer in Japan at that time, she would believe her senior, but as time went by, Eneng decided to avoid such restaurants, which have no certainty in halalness and preferred to cook at home. From then on, she has also been cautious in selecting the food she wants to buy by reading the ingredients label. She is also cautious when she dines out with people who just knew her, because they usually do not understand yet what she can and cannot consume. Then she would tell them that she cannot eat and people would understand. Although sometimes her senpai could be mistaken in giving information, there are times when her senpai's suggestion is really useful. In such a case as performing prayer in public places when it is necessary, her senpai would suggest her to do it in a fitting room or near emergency exits if she goes to the shopping mall and she admits that she has done this quite often.

For almost five years living in Japan, Eneng feels many changes in her life. She remembers the first time she came to Japan when she could not speak Japanese, not even could read kanji until now in spite of the fact that she is a Graduate Student and even becomes the spokesperson for the organization she is involved in. She was excited with her brand new life in Japan, but now everything has become usual for her, and she is more accustomed to everything now. There was one funny experience while buying sanitary napkins when she first came to Japan. She used to ask her senpai to buy the napkins for her because she was too embarrassed to pay, especially if the cashier was a male. Nowadays, Eneng does not even bother if the cashier is a male or not, and she would just pay and leave. For a Muslim, interacting with the opposite sex is limited, especially when it comes to woman's sensitive matters. But, for Eneng this kind of limitation can sometimes be excused, because in case of emergency it shall be reconsidered. "When it's already an emergency situation and I'd rather wait for a female doctor, that's nonsense. This is Japan. Shou ga nai (it can't be helped)," she said about seeing a doctor. That is how far Eneng's point of view has changed. What she means is probably that some things, though prohibited or limited, are to be excused in certain circumstances.

Changes are not always from Eneng herself, but also from the people around her. For example, her colleagues or even her sensei would remind her about prayer time. "Eneng-san, have you done oinori (prayer)?" This proves that the people around her are very considerate about her. Even during the Ramadan (holy month of fasting), she was never being prohibited from fasting at school, nor even at her baito saki (workplace). Even at her baito saki, she was always provided a room for taking a break and performing prayer. But, when it comes to fasting, women always have menstruation and must not fasting during that time. In Indonesia, a common term used by the young people, bocor (having menstruation), is often used to explain this situation. "I always break fasting when I'm bocor." and then, Eneng would explain her situation to other people. This is to avoid the misunderstanding because normally Muslims will do fasting. But, if there is any person who does not do fasting, then it seems strange in ordinary Japanese eyes.

In the end, Eneng is just a normal person like others. She is a Muslim with plenty of activities, still doing her hobbies such as going to karaoke, also still fulfilling her duty as a Muslim as best as she could. Knowing her current appearance in hijab, it even keeps her from going to beauty salon for having her hair cut, because of the prohibition of showing hair to the opposite sex. It is common in Japan that there are many male beauticians, and that is why Eneng chooses to keep her hair grow until she returns to Indonesia to have her hair cut. "What for? It's expensive anyway!" she said about going to beauty salon in Japan. In this kind of situation, she has self-control.

At the end of the interview, Eneng mentioned about Lebaran, the festival after Ramadan. In Indonesia, it is a tradition to gather with family after the morning mass prayer. But, when Eneng is in Japan, even though she can pray with the people at Shizuoka Muslim Association and eat with them, afterwards she would go home and call her family through video call. "Nothing special, really. Everything feels usual." Probably things are going to be different if she spends time with her own family. Besides, during the Eid Al-Fitri, people usually collect zakat (religious obligation or tax) or during the Eid Al-Adha, qurban, sacrifice livestock animal. In Japan, these things are not that easy to be done. For the zakat, there is still something that can be done, but for sacrificing the animal, it is forbidden here. That is why Eneng's obligation in zakat or qurban, is represented by her husband or her family in Indonesia. Marriage is also one of the reasons Eneng is urged to return to Indonesia as soon as she finishes her study. She once considered pursuing career in Japan, but after she got married and now with a long distance relationship with her husband, she wants to return to Indonesia and gather with her beloved family.

2.2.2. Aishah

Aishah is a very young girl who decided to study abroad for the first time in her life. After graduating from high school, she decided to continue studying for the Undergraduate Program in University of Shizuoka, majoring in International Relations. It was actually a big decision for her, because for all of her life she had never been separated from her family. Now she must go to Japan to study and to live by herself. "I'm always with my family and suddenly after graduating from high school, I just have to live alone," she says. Aishah admits that, before coming to Japan she has several concerns such as the food in Japan, how to and where to perform prayer and about friends. Of course, unlike in Japan, halal food and places for performing prayer are easily to be found everywhere in her country. As for prayer rooms, for example, even if people go along the highway, they see a rest area, or even when people go to stations, they can easily find the prayer rooms. But when she came to Japan, she was embarrassed. "How am I supposed to perform my prayer? Oh my God." And then, her senpai (senior) told her to the effect that, when going to shopping malls or the like, she could always pray in the changing room or space near the emergency stairs, a simple solution for prayer room. Also, while most people would need abaya (long dress for daily wear or to perform prayer) to perform prayer, in this situation, there is no need to wear abaya. As long as the head, neck, hand, knee to down below are well covered, then it is fine to perform prayer.

Another problem is about the halal food. This was one of Aishah's most concerned things when she came to Japan. She realized that most of the food in Japan are pork-based or alcohol-based and she needs to avoid all of those. When she eats out, she chooses to order spaghetti, udon (Japanese thick noodle) or other noodle-based food, all to avoid non-halal meat. Even though other than pork are edible for Muslims, such as beef or chicken, if they are not properly slaughtered under the name of Allah, Muslims will not be able to eat them. Therefore, Aishah chooses carefully for the places she eats in and, if possible, eats in halal restaurants, but those kinds of restaurants are not many to be found in Shizuoka City. When she went to Tokyo, she experienced some halal restaurants and one of them was an all-you-can-eat restaurant where halal beef and chicken are served in many variants. But, since in Shizuoka there is no such type of restaurant, Aishah does not have other option than eating halal chicken all the time. Although halal restaurants are very few in Shizuoka, there are still some shops or supermarkets that sell halal products. From these supermarkets, the Muslims who live in Shizuoka are saved in fulfilling their halal needs. Aishah herself claims that she often goes to Gyomu Supa (supermarket for business retail) to buy halal chicken and other halal products. Despite the fact that she does not like to cook, she buys raw ingredients and cooks for herself in order to eat a safer food. "I don't like to cook, but I have to cook, because I have to survive. And I'm not into seafood that much, so I eat chicken. I'm not sick with chicken. In Japan, it's heaven!" she admits.

It was previously mentioned that one of Aishah's concerns before coming to Japan was to have a friend in Japan. She actually believes it is her biggest fear especially because she is wearing hijab. "I was just like, will they be friends with me because I'm with scarf?" she worried. But all of her worries disappeared immediately once she came to Japan. In fact, she feels glad that the people in her current university were all accepting her as who she is. Her scarf does not make her judged and she still befriends with anyone. Sometimes people will ask her about her hijab especially in summer, since an appearance with her whole body properly covered is very unusual in Japan. The Japanese do not wear hijab but they are already feeling hot, and that is why the people in Aishah's surroundings are concerned about her wearing hijab in summer. Inquired that way, Aishah answered that she was already used to wearing her hijab. Above all, Aishah is already accustomed to do fasting for a whole month in Ramadan and when she does that in Japan, people are concerned again about her. Such as, 'Why one month? It's very hot and you have to fast. Isn't it hard?' Moreover it is a sixteen-hour fasting in Japan. Here we can see that Aishah's worries are no longer based on realities, because she has friends in her surroundings that care about her condition.

Speaking about friends, Aishah also socializes with people outside her university colleagues. Before coming to Japan, when Aishah was preparing for the entry examination, she was introduced to some Malaysian senpai in Japan to help her out. And, from this senpai too, Aishah knew other Malaysian senpai and friends who all are gathered in an online community for Malaysians who live in Japan. They all are communicating through a chat application called Hangout and exchange information regarding halal food and other Islamic related matters such as how to survive in Japan. Well, in order for Aishah not to feel lonely in a foreign country, she often spends her time with people from her home country and that happens either online or in real life. Through social media, Aishah talks with other Malaysians and in real life Aishah hangs out with them, go for bowling, karaoke or sightseeing. This way, Aishah does not feel lonely living in Japan.

Aishah also has a few of her unique experiences in Japan. For example, when she goes to the supermarket and to buy sanitary napkins, she does not know how to read the kanji in the label. She needs a certain type of sanitary napkins but never gets the type of napkins that she wants. After a few times having bought the undesired sanitary napkins, Aishah finally got the one she needed and now she always buys the same thing every time she needs. And, about buying the sanitary napkins itself, Aishah does not feel awkward if she has to pay to a male cashier. In her opinion, it is a natural thing for her to buy the napkins and it does not matter if the cashier is a male or female. If it is too deeply concerned, anyone will have difficulties in living anywhere. The next thing she says is about having her hair cut. Aishah has been in Japan for almost two years and in the meantime she has not returned to Malaysia at all. The thing that matters is about how Aishah grooms herself or care for her health during her stay in Japan. In fact, Aishah never buys drugs or vitamins in Japan, and all of the drugs she might need are from her country, the ones that she bought before she came to Japan. Luckily, she never caught cold or suffered from any heavy illness so far, If, by chance, Aishah is to suffer an illness here in Japan, that will be considered as a big problem for her. Aishah is mostly concerned about the hospital fee, because she hears from her senpai that the hospital can be extremely expensive. Even with a National Health Insurance available, Aishah still thinks it is expensive. Aishah also has a strong opinion about having hair cut. She says that she will let her hair grow, even though it is hot, because she will not have her hair cut in Japan. The reason why she decides this is that going to a beauty salon in Japan is really expensive and also that she cannot have a male staff's service. In Japan, there are probably salons that are specialized for Muslim women, but that might be extremely costly and expensive. That is why Aishah will wait until she returns to Malaysia to have her hair cut, because she will not even cut her hair herself.

Lastly, Aishah mentions about her current studying situation. At the moment, she only wants to enjoy her youth as a foreigner student while it lasts. She does not like to be inquired with questions such as "What are you going to do after you graduate?" or "What is your dream job?" As a matter of fact, Aishah has not had a thought about any of those yet. "I don't have any dream job, because right now I study something that I can study," she exclaims. In the future, there are possibilities about Aishah living in Japan after graduating, but that is a long talk. Nevertheless, if Aishah would live in Japan for quite a long term, Aishah says that she will spread the knowledge about Islam, because she thinks that most Japanese do not know about Islam actually and they only know that Muslims wear hijab.

2.2.3. Tedha

Tedha is originally a student at a university in Turkey and studying Japanese as her major. In one of her studying courses, she had to translate documents from Japanese to Turkish and English and she was encouraged to go abroad as an exchange student. Since it was related with her study course, Tedha chose Japan as her destination. Now, she is studying at the University of Shizuoka as an exchange student for one year. But, before Tedha came to Japan, she had some concerns. She was anxious about Japan, which is a non-Muslim country, to be a discriminative country. Tedha remembered about some non-Muslim countries in Europe and in those countries the Muslim communities are large, but they are also subject to high discriminations. Meanwhile in Japan, Muslim community is not that large and the discrimination less often occurs. So, for Tedha it turned out to be the opposite and she thought that the people are kind and understanding. Actually, the reason why Tedha felt anxious before coming to Japan was the fact that her Japanese Language lecturer in Turkey, who was a Japanese, told her that, if Tedha went to Japan, probably she could not find halal food and could not do many things. "You will be the only hijab-wearing student in Japan. Now in your class, you may be suffering for many things. Are you ready for that?" Tedha explained about her lecturer's words toward her. In fact, it was her lecturer who worried about Tedha, more than Tedha herself.

But, Tedha arrived in Japan safely and she felt that her environment was nice. This was proven with Tedha's activities. Basically they were around studying and having international meetings with other students or Japanese people. Other than studying at the International Relations Department, Tedha also participated in other activities such as Photography Club and IFC (International Friendship Community). But, as far as the Photography Club was concerned, it only lasted for one semester and she did not continue it anymore. "It was so hot, hot. I can't stand with the meetings outside, so I don't attend it anymore," admits Tedha. It was a simple decision, but it was understandable if she could not stand the heat. Even so, Tedha still participated in the IFC activity. Sometimes the IFC held some events and Tedha attended them. As outside campus activity, Tedha was also doing a part-time job. She is currently having a private class as an English teacher for some Japanese people average forty years old and most of them are employees. Tedha says that around three times a week she will go to coffee shops. Her students chose the coffee shops and then in this place, she teaches them English conversations. Since most of the students are employees, Tedha often has to teach them in the evening after they are finished with their work. There are times when the students have to adjust to Tedha's time, too, especially during the Ramadan. Then Tedha is fasting in the daytime so they had to do the lesson after the breaking of fasting.

Regarding the Ramadan, it was the first time for Tedha to perform fasting in Japan and it was in summer. Completing the fasting was not that hard for Tedha, but the reactions from the people in her surroundings were quite interesting. There was one friend, who asked her, "What will happen if you accidentally swallow a raindrop?" And then there was another funny question, but this time it was not about fasting, "Why are you wearing hijab? Do you have hair? Are you bald?" The last question came from one of Tedha's students, who were five years old. The questions sounded so curious yet funny at the same time. Tedha had worn hijab since she was fifteen years old. Her mother also wore hijab. Other than understanding the basic rule that woman must wear hijab when they hit puberty, it was probably because of the influence in her family, too.

In her daily life, Tedha did not really go out, and she would rather spend her time at the apartment cooking and reading books, but sometimes she would go out to a lake near her apartment to refresh herself. Tedha actually liked to cook a lot and she often did home cooking, although sometimes she went out to some restaurants that sold halal food such as Bengal Kitchen or Soba Restaurants. Actually, before coming to Japan, one of Tedha's worries was about the halal food. Fortunately, some Indonesian friends and other Muslim friends informed her of the places to buy halal products, such as Gyomu Supa, so that she could shop with ease. With this halal shop around, it increased the range of Tedha's hobby in cooking. She often cooked with her roommate and sometimes even invited friends to come over to eat with them.

As a Muslim woman, Tedha confessed that there were differences when she was in Turkey and in Japan. In Turkey, if Muslim women in hijab were strolling in the street, people would see and stare with disturbing eyes. For Tedha who was also wearing hijab, this was a disturbing act. Meanwhile, when she was in Japan, even though sometimes being stared too, those were only curious stares. At some points, people would even approach her and ask her questions nicely about the hijab. Tedha even said that living in Shizuoka was calmer than living in Turkey. Speaking of hijab, Tedha told that she never bought hijab while in Japan because she did not know places that sell hijab, so most of her hijabs were the ones she brought from Turkey or gifts from Indonesian friends. Tedha also told that she was happy to receive the hijab gift, because the hijabs were with patterns, unlike her mostly plain hijabs. Probably after six years of wearing hijab, it was the first time for Tedha to wear hijab with patterns. Another interesting thing was about prayer dress. Tedha also received an abaya (long dress for daily wear or to perform prayer) as a gift from her Indonesian friend and she said that such dress was not available in Turkey. In Turkey, when people were performing prayer, they would wear normal clothes that are clean, such as long skirts and some kind of jacket. Even when they were traveling, they never needed special dress to perform prayer. Another different thing is about how people react to physical contact. In Turkey, it is normal for people to hug each other if they meet in the street, because it means greetings, and even the Muslim people do it. But, in Japan people generally do not do that, so it is totally a different culture.

When Tedha was not studying, she would sometimes go traveling with her friends. She traveled around famous places in Japan such as Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Kobe. She sometimes went traveling only when she had enough money and a long holiday. At least before she returned to Turkey, she had known other parts of Japan too, which are not limited to Shizuoka only. Living in Japan meant not only knowing about the views and cities but also about the culture and the habits. One of the habits of the Japanese people that were quite different from the people in Turkey was when women buy sanitary napkins. In Japan, it was very common for the cashier to put sanitary napkins into a different bag from other groceries. The purpose of separating was to protect the customer's privacy in buying private product. But actually, Tedha felt surprised at this. "It's a natural thing, it happens to us every month, I don't think it needs to be separated. Everyone knows it, why hide it?" commented Tedha. But it was another culture in Japan and there was nothing else to do than accepting it.

So far, as long as Tedha lived in Japan, she only went out with her friends from the university and her roommate. It was not necessary for her to find other Muslims or contact them, because she thought that was it enough with the current people in her surroundings. Tedha even thought that most people in Japan already knew about her being a Muslim and also about the things that she could or could not consume. Because of this, Tedha was never asked questions deeply about her Islamic identity.

2.2.4. Fadiya

Fadiya is a student at the University of Shizuoka and currently studying for the Graduate Program of Management and Information of Innovation. Her main activity is related with her study for the Doctoral course she is taking right now and she is very committed to this. "My main activity is related with my study, because I'm here for my study and that's it actually," she says. Even though she is involved in other activities such as participating in English Language Club with her dormitory friends, she chooses to study and stay in the research room. She even confesses that she mostly perform prayer in the research room or at home. She does not really do outdoor activities. She would rather stay inside while reading philosophy and psychology books other than her research books. If she goes out, that will still be related with her study, such as meeting colleagues or interviews for collecting data.

From her appearance, there is no telling that she might be a Muslim, but she is a Muslim even though she does not wear hijab. Previously she told that she performed prayer in her research room. This is true and she also tells about the way she prays. In Islam, women have specific type of dress that can be used for performing prayer every time every day, but for Fadiya, she only wears the dress at a certain time. When she is in Japan, she only uses a long scarf, the type of scarf that can be easily bought in Japan too, and wraps it around the head and just pray. "I use that long scarf, I can use the long scarf and make it according to my choice." Next, Fadiya tells about the reason she does not wear hijab. In Bangladesh, it is not mandatory to wear hijab for Muslim women. So, it depends on the individual. If the individual wants to do it, then she will do it, but if the individual does not want to do it, there is no government's regulation that she must do it. She says, "It depends on family culture. In my family it is not very strict when I have to wear hijab. Even though my mother wears hijab and she always encourages me to do that, she never actually says 'You must do that'. She encourages me and that's it."

Fadiya's identity as a Muslim can also be seen in other aspects, such as controlling her meal by not eating pork-based and alcohol-using food, and also doing the fasting. In her daily life, Fadiya says that she does both cooking meal at home and eating out, but since she spends a lot of time in the campus and other outdoor activities related with her study, she eats out more. For fulfilling her halal needs, Fadiya buys halal meat at Gyomu Supa (supermarket for business retail), while she would just buy other things such as vegetables at any supermarkets. She also does not need any particular seasonings for cooking. She prefers plenty of chili powders for her cooking. When dining out, Fadiya chooses the university's cafeteria or when she is outside the campus, she tries her best to avoid meat and just prefer to have vegetables, fish and noodles, because she thinks these are the safest choice. Living in Japan is not the same as living in Europe or America, where the society is multicultural and by going to any superstores, halal products can be found easily. "In case of Japan, the situation is not like that, but there are some alternatives which, being a Muslim, I feel I have to find out. But so far it's not that difficult," she says. This relates with the fact that, if Fadiya is going out with her colleagues or friends, she will tell people that she does not consume pork and alcohol and people would understand her. The people in her surrounding would then separate the food for Fadiya whenever they order food. This shows that they are concerned about Fadiya being a Muslim and she has something that she cannot eat, but they consider about her situation.

In Islam, it is suggested that women should avoid physical contact with non-mahram (unmarriageable kin). This also means the need to avoid direct physical contact with any male staffs in shops and stores. For example, Fadiya often spends time grooming her hair at a beauty salon, because this is one of her needs. She says that most beauty salons have male staffs and actually there is a way to avoid the service from these male staffs. Fadiya would often choose not to go in rush hours, and especially the weekends. Avoiding male staff also happens when Fadiya goes shopping for her women's needs such as sanitary napkins. It is found that she feels uncomfortable when she buys such napkins and the only cashier is a male. Although she confesses that she has no problems or difficulties with the male cashier, she still feels uncomfortable somehow. In the end, she would rather choose the female staff. So, basically Fadiya does not mind with the opposite sex around her, because even in Japan nobody often shakes hands with each other and people only need to bow to each other. "This is what I feel good, because I don't need to do any kind of physical contact. So I guess it's fine and I don't find any difficulties in socializing myself, because, as I told you before, Bangladesh is not like a typical Muslim country, we're a little liberal," she says.

For almost three years in Japan, Fadiya feels that she never has problems in living her life here. Although Fadiya does not speak Japanese well, with very limited knowledge in daily conversation and is unable to read the kanji characters at all, she admits that all of her time living in Japan has been smoothly passed for her. Whenever she needs to get something she needs, since she cannot read the kanji, she would ask her friend to read for her or write for her if she goes alone. Not speaking Japanese does not stop Fadiya to socialize with the Japanese. As a matter of fact, Fadiya joins a group called Sakura, which assigns foreign students to a Japanese host in order for them to communicate with each other and understand each other's cultures. The Japanese host for Fadiya is an elderly woman and she calls her okaasan (mother). "She's actually a very reliable person even though she can't speak English, she always try her best to help me." Okaasan is also considerate to Fadiya who is a Muslim. Especially she likes to invite Fadiya to visit her house and prepares for her meals and those meals she prepares are alcohol-free and without meat.

Other than her colleagues or her Japanese host, Fadiya also communicates with other Bangladeshi in Shizuoka. The Bangladeshi who lives in Shizuoka City are mostly students just like Fadiya and most of them are Muslims. With these students, Fadiya exchanges information such as about living in Japan and how to gain halal products. They will communicate through social media such as Facebook and Messenger. So, although Fadiya earlier told that she was not involved in any religious activities, she is still communicating with other Muslims in Shizuoka City. She also tells about an event where a Muslim acquaintance of her passed away in Shizuoka and was buried somewhere in Shimizu. Fadiya did not attend the burial, but her husband did.

Lastly, she tells about her experience of fasting in Japan. The first time Fadiya did fasting was in May, Summer. As far as Fadiya's experience is concerned, fasting in Japan and fasting in Bangladesh are totally different. She even admits that fasting in Japan is actually difficult because, in a Muslim country, they have totally different environment during the period of Ramadan. It is more as a religious festival. In Bangladesh, to adjust the people who are fasting during Ramadan, the office hour is changed. "In Bangladesh offices close early and it starts a little late, so things are like that. But in Japan, there is no such system. So, yes, fasting, I feel, is very difficult here in Japan," admits Fadiya. When she was in Bangladesh, she found that everyone surrounding her was doing the same thing, so she could manage her fasting, holding herself from feeling hungry. But when she is in Japan, everyone surrounding her is eating and it makes her feel hungrier because of the aroma from the food. Nevertheless, this makes Fadiya motivate herself even more in fasting by putting extra determination and concentration. Sometimes the idea of giving up can come up in her mind, but she knows, if she ever gives up by breaking fasting, she will feel guilty out of it.

2.2.5. Iesha

Iesha is a student from Turkey and now is an exchange student at the University of Shizuoka, majoring in International Relations. She was active in studying and campus activities, such as joining the IFC (International Friendship Community). Iesha liked to participate in these kinds of international meetings, which allowed her to meet new people and share each other's culture. Outside the campus, Iesha also participated in many International meetings, by searching through Facebook. Some of the people she met even hired her to be her English teacher. Iesha admitted that she was very excited to be able to be involved in this kind of meeting, because it could make the Japanese understand English better and she could learn Japanese from them, and above all, she could also earn money.

When Iesha came to Japan, her life was affected by the lifestyle of Japan instantly. She admitted that, despite of her being a Muslim, she ate pork and consumed alcohol. Iesha said that she was still a Muslim, not a good Muslim but she still believed in Allah. No one told Iesha to change or behave like this. It was purely her decision. But on occasions, when Iesha went out, she did not order pork deliberately, and only when pork was served, she would eat them. "I know it's not right, but right now I still don't know how to keep my faith," she said. But when she was served chicken and pork at the same time, she would try to choose the chicken, because she still felt guilty sometimes. When performing prayer, her prayer could not be exactly regarded as the usual prayer that other Muslims perform. "I kind of sit and think and try to reach for Allah in my own way," she says. In other words, it was like a meditation. Despite the fact that Iesha's family members were Muslims, Iesha was acting differently while she was in Japan. Even in performing fasting, she did not do the whole day fasting like other Muslims. Before Iesha came to Japan, she had already been questioning about many things in the Islamic teachings. She questioned things such as why only women had to take care about their appearance, wear the hijab, but men did not care? She was kind of angry at how the people applied the teachings in her home country. "The rightful source was definitely the Holy Quran, but I was kind of affected by the people, on how they apply the teachings. I was also intimidated by the religion, too," said Iesha. Concerning things like eating pork, Iesha could never find the logical reason why she could not eat pork. She always wondered what would be the difference between pork and chicken and why the pork was prohibited.

Although Iesha is different from other Muslims, she still respected her roommate by cooking halal food at the apartment. She loved to cook and she often cooked with her roommate and invited friends to come over. She also respected her roommate by buying ingredients and seasonings that were not containing pork or alcohol. Iesha also mentioned about her family in Turkey. She said that her mother was her role model. She did not wear hijab but never wore dresses or clothes that were too open. At the same time, her mother also practiced prayer and fasting, although she stopped fasting since two years ago because of her illness. Iesha remembered that she and her mother used to love to wear the same wide Turkish dress, one-piece dress. But since Iesha lived in Japan, she only wore the casual dresses. Because of this, Iesha could shop any clothes she desired in Japan.

Apart from being a rare case as a Muslim, Iesha also mentioned about her experiences in Japan. She said that Japan, especially Shizuoka, was an extremely safe environment. In Turkey, it was dangerous to unlock doors and windows when people were sleeping at night, but in Japan, even though Iesha opened the window widely during summer because of the heat, she would still wake up in the next morning safely. It was somehow a relieving condition. Related to this matter, Iesha remembered the reason why she chose Japan for abroad exchange program. So, before deciding Japan as her destination, Iesha originally had three other options, Canada, U.S. and Europe. But Iesha knew that, if she chose one of those countries, she would be discriminated. "If you're not a Christian, you will be discriminated," she said. She also said about her imagining choosing Serbia, but she thought she would not even last one day in Serbia because of the discrimination. In the end, she wanted to go to a country where people loved Turkish people, understood the culture and wanted to learn different cultures. There would still be problems such as language and culture if she chose the country, but considering the discrimination, the only country with less discrimination was Japan in Iesha's thought. Fortunately, Iesha was interested in learning the language and the culture and it was already the fourth year since she studied about Japan's cultures.

Other experiences that Iesha mentioned were regarding the people in her surroundings. She said that, in her current living environment, she was quite satisfied with her neighbors. Because everyday when they meet on the street, they will greet Iesha nicely and sometimes even had a quick talk. Basically for Iesha, everyone in Shizuoka was very kind, and she was never abused by anyone during living in Shizuoka. But, one day when she was on the train, there was a weird Japanese man who sat right across her, who kept staring at her all the time. Iesha kind of felt offended, but she decided to ignore it. The moment she ignored the man, he farted really loudly and made the whole cart hear his fart. Iesha thought the man's stare was already disturbing and his farting was even more disturbing. But, despite of that, she was not physically abused and just thought that the man had a behavioral disorder. Iesha was kind of reminded of her friend's saying about the environment in Tokyo that was more dangerous than in Shizuoka. So, Iesha felt relieved to know that any strangers never approached her.

Lastly, Iesha mentioned about her thought on one unique cultural aspect of the Japanese. That was about separating sanitary napkins into a different bag from other groceries. Iesha thought that this kind of culture is unnecessary. It was a natural thing for a woman to have periods and there was nothing to be ashamed of. "Men are born from women, so they have to understand it's a natural thing and they should know about this. There's no need to cover sanitary napkins," Iesha explained. Indeed, what Iesha told was the truth, but in Japan it already became a natural habit too, and even both the cashier and the customer were already accustomed to this culture.

0 notes

actualmuslimwomen · 3 years

Text

CHAPTER 3

ANALYSIS OF THE LIFE CONDITIONS AND ISSUES OF MUSLIM HOUSEWIVES

The lives of married Muslim women in Japan were full of twists and turns that need to be overcome. Through the five interviewed housewives, many stories about their personal experiences chiefly concerning households and ways of participation in the society were unfolded. Their lives might seem fine, but behind their seemingly great achievements, there were so many struggles and concerns. Their stories will be narrated below, according to related themes.

3.1. Islam as a faith

In this life, there are many options to take, including the options to have a faith. While three out of five housewives that were interviewed claimed that they were born as Muslims, the other two decided to choose Islam later in their life. The latter two women confessed that they were fascinated with Islam and converted to Islam right away. Each of them explained the reasons why they believed in Islam.

When Miho was a foreign student in the U.S., she got attracted to the Muslim community. The main reason of having been attracted to the Muslim community was that she had a Muslim friend and she respected her a lot. As she got to know of her friend better, Miho began to find out the significance of Islam and finally reached the Muslim community. In the community, Miho studied Islam further and understood why she respected her Muslim friend a lot. For Miho, her friend was an ideal figure for her and she decided to be like her friend and became a Muslim herself. After having become a Muslim, Miho was also encouraged to wear hijab, too and she wore it.

Meanwhile, Juri seemed to have a different reason for becoming a Muslim. Juri explained that she used to be a Buddhist but she never really practiced the Buddhist teachings. Once she also went to church to seek an answer about faith, but she failed again. Then, on the next stage, she was introduced to Islam. Juri said that listening to the sound of Holy Quran's verses being recited made her calm and peaceful. Finally, Juri decided to become a Muslim.

The two women mentioned above originally have Japanese nationality. They went through a journey of finding what was right to believe in and they have found it. On the other hand, the other three Muslim women are all Indonesians. These three had different background stories as Muslims. Coming from a country with Muslims as a majority, Nana, Eni and Sita were all born as Muslims. Despite the fact that they were all born-Muslims, the two of them seemed to have undecided yet in performing their duties as Muslims.

Ad-Darsh quoted a tradition of Abu Dawud that says: "When a woman reaches the age of puberty, no parts of her body should be kept exposed except the face and the hands extending to the joints of the wrist." (Ad-Darsh, 2003: 3-4) In other words, it is clearly stated that Muslim women must wear hijab (veil) to protect their body. But, in practice, Nana and Sita did not value the command yet. Nana, for example, told that she had often been encouraged to wear hijab, but she was still feeling unsure whether she had that bravery in covering her body parts or not. Her mother wore hijab and kept reminding Nana to wear one as soon as possible, because it was basically a duty for a Muslim woman. At a certain time in her twenties, Nana got back that calling for wearing a hijab when she met a Japanese mualaf (a person who converts to Islam) who also became her friend. Something knocked her heart and mind and she reconsidered deeply about hijab. But, when Nana got married, gave birth to her first child and one day saw her fellow Muslim women casually breastfeeding their babies while wearing hijab, Nana decided that she would wear hijab for good.

This was interesting, because Sita seemed to have quite the same decision as Nana. Sita said that she was also brought up in an Islamic family, but she only came to wear hijab when she got married. Sita stated that she understood about the obligation of a woman who came to puberty, yet she waited until she was married to wear the hijab. Meanwhile, Eni had a different experience to share. Eni was put in an Islamic elementary school. At the age of twelve, Eni started to wear hijab because of the Islamic knowledge that she had earned from her elementary school. She was probably already at her puberty at twelve and that was why she wore hijab. This habit had continued until she came to Japan. Unfortunately, in the second year while she was in Japan, Eni had a change of heart about wearing hijab. She confessed that she had unveiled her hijab. It was probably because of her deep knowledge about Islam that she thought she did not deserve to wear hijab when so many haram things surrounded her and her prayer performance was poor. Eni thought that by unveiling her hijab she would feel relieved for being so sinful, but it was the other way around. Eni became even more discouraged by her own decision, but she did not even know how to solve her problems. In the end, it was her family and her future husband at that time that helped her gain strength back to wear hijab.

Above mentioned were the issues of these Muslim women. They told about their conditions and issues as Muslims and their decisions were not easy. The author also realized that she was quite late in deciding to wear hijab. When the author was sixteen years old, two years after she arrived at puberty, she gained hidayah (blessing) about wearing hijab. The event took place at the author's cousin's wedding. At that moment, the author knew that her whole family members were already wearing hijab and she was the only one who was not. At some point, the author felt certain that it was about the time for her to follow her family's step and she even dreamt about the hijab. I need to point out here that having a faith is a huge decision and the real test is how to keep the faith inside. And as stated in the Holy Quran: It is He who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers that they would increase in faith along with their [present] faith. And to Allah belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth, and ever is Allah Knowing and Wise (Al-Fath: 4). It seemed that all of the women above including me had had a tranquility to make decisions, and they were all blessed with faith and, whatever happened, they have fought for their faith.

Having Islam as a faith may produces obstacles and those can come from within self or from the environment. Looking at these housewives in choosing Islam as a faith, they keep holding on their faith and continue their life as usual, regardless of the obstacles they face. The stories regarding how they live their life will be explored in the next section.

3.2. Activities as a Muslim

The next step of being a Muslim is to realize what kind of contribution could be made to prove self as a good Muslim. As Sakurai pointed out in her book that Islamic characteristics are not only about the articles of faith, but that there are also certain points that ground the daily practice. They are the five pillars of Islam, which consists of syahadah, prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, and charity (Sakurai, 2003: 100). This probably means that, in daily life, one must practice these five pillars well to have blessed activities. Those activities could be overlapped with any normal activities such as going to work, taking care of the household or even missionary activities and organizational activities.

As Muslim women who live in a non-Muslim country, it was never always easy for them to be able to blend with the society, but they were never tired to try. The first story to be told was about Eni's experience in finding jobs in Shizuoka. She explained that currently she had a stable job in Shizuoka, kind of a dream job that she wanted. It was called a dream job because she said that, to adjust herself to her husband who was already working in Shizuoka, she wanted to have a job, too, that could not separate them away and also a job with an employer that could hire a Muslim woman in hijab. The dream came true and now Eni was responsible for taking care of lodging houses that were meant to attract tourists from Islamic countries. Eni was also allowed to perform prayers at the office, too, as long as her work was not obstructed. So, everything seemed as blessings and great achievements, but behind these were countless efforts in gaining the surrounding people's trust. Eni spoke about her experiences in applying for arubaito (part-time job) and she said that she had not been employed several times. Eni admitted that she had been passionate to have a job that could relate her with the customers and then she applied to konbini (convenient store), but she was not hired. The next time she tried to apply for arubaito, a job in direct service to customers was not allowed, and then she changed her mind to get a job as a kitchen staff because she liked to cook. But, again, she was not hired. The restaurant she applied to required her not only to cook food but also to serve the food to the customers directly and sometimes to take their orders, too. The main reason for which Eni had not been hired was, according to her, that she stated that she needed to wear the hijab and the people were still hesitant to hire such a woman because they were afraid that the customers would be startled to see Eni's appearance.

This author actually had the same kind of experience as Eni had. In 2015, the second year while I lived in Japan, the author tried to apply to a yakinikuya restaurant (grilled-meat restaurant) as a kitchen staff. Everything went smooth up to the interview session, but when the author mentioned about her hijab, the tenchou (manager) reacted differently. At the beginning of the interview, the tenchou seemed eager to employ me and it seemed to be a positive discussion, but as I mentioned about the uniform, the tenchou's face changed slightly. The author tried to confirm that the job was not going to be directly related to the customers and it was acknowledged, but even though said so, tenchou did not want to hire me. Because, as a proof, a within one-week call that was promised, never happened. Another similar case concerning employment happened to Sita, who applied to a supermarket near her house. Sita said that unlike her previous applications, this time it took quite a lot of time to respond to her application. Sita admitted that she did not mention about hijab during the interview, but she still had to wait for more than one week for a call from the supermarket. After a long wait, Sita was told that she would be hired and she came to the supermarket, but the tenchou was surprised to understand that she could not remove her hijab. After some considerations, the tenchou and other staffs decided to hire Sita and allowed her hijab under the uniform's cap.

Comparing the cases above, the author realizes that there was a slight difference regarding the results of their employment. Unlike Eni who stated that she could not remove the hijab during the work and ended up being not employed, the case of Sita was the other way around. She did not mention about hijab, and with a little luck, she was hired in a more or less same position. There was also a possible empathy from the staffs when hiring Sita. This kind of sympathy also happened to Miho when she had her first job as a Muslim. When Miho returned to Japan, she had a job in a company in Tokyo. During the interview, Miho only told that she could not wear such short skirts as the other staffs were wearing while Miho was also not wearing her hijab at that time. She had a thought that if she pushed her way too hard as a Muslim to other people, she might be quickly rejected. And it was a wise move, because afterwards Miho was hired and she could wear long skirts and long-sleeved shirts at work. As time went by, Miho reached for her seniors and upper-rank people and asked for their permission to allow her to wear hijab in the office. As predicted, Miho was allowed to wear hijab as long as her duties were not neglected. This was pretty much the same situation as Sita had. But, empathy did not always work or at least not all people could have it. Looking back on a case of the Social Worker Trainee Program in Nagoya in 2014 where some Indonesian Muslim trainees were involved, they were told to remove their hijab as well. It was said that hijab was not the only problem, but taking a break for prayer was also considered as a problem too many times. The Japanese Language lecturer, Hirai Shinji (50), pointed out that, whether they were already used to the hijab or not, it was the other party's feeling that was important, because they were not used to Islam (Chunichi Shimbun, 4 August 2014). In other words, neither empathy nor understanding about Islam was seen in this atmosphere. In fact, the Muslim women were the ones who were forced to adjust themselves to the new place.

Seeing the fact that there were cases such as mentioned above, it seems that the Japanese society need to be given basic knowledge about Islam. In order for the society to grow more empathy for the Muslims regardless of gender, the Muslims had to approach the non-Muslims in a soft way. Miho was one of the Muslim people who started an organization with her husband to raise awareness on Muslims for the Japanese. Furthermore, Miho also hoped that with the organization growing, she would be able to connect all of the Muslims in Shizuoka as the focus. Running this organization was one of Miho's precious activities and she was really serious about it. The point was obeying the commands of Allah and living a life as other people do at the same time. If Miho was trying to raise awareness on Muslims with the organization, Eni was trying to do the same thing, too. Sometimes, she would hold a seminar for the Japanese to give them lectures about Islam and what Muslims do in their daily life. It turned out to be quite a success, because, after the session was finished, many questions about Islam came from the Japanese and they also seemed to have been interested. This proves that, it is not right to have a stereotyped image of the Japanese for not having empathy for Muslims. They probably just did not know how to treat a Muslim well.

These housewives show that, even as an individual with religious faith, they can still do works as normal employees. Also, having unusual appearance in hijab does not become the obstacle in completing their jobs. In fact, most of them showed success in each of their field and had long-term jobs although there was only one case that did not seem to be easy to overcome. The following section will be discussed concerning the family issues.

3.3. Family issues

A married woman has duties and responsibilities towards her husband or children, but as a daughter, she has duties towards her parents as well. This time, several stories about joy and difficulty as a wife and a daughter at the same time are going to be unfolded. It was previously stated above that Miho and Juri were convert Muslims. It was their personal decision to convert to Islam, not a force from anyone and they were delighted with their choice. After their conversion, they were married and had children and it seemed to be a normal life. But, even in a normal life, there were issues and concerns that they held in mind. Miho, for example, explained that, after becoming a Muslim, she was concerned about how to continue her faith in Japan when her family was not even familiar with Islam. Her concern came to reality as her mother opposed her. Miho's mother even disliked it when her daughter was wearing hijab and worried about what her neighbor might say about Miho. On the other hand, Miho's father was accepting her daughter's belief and was supporting her. That was why Miho got her first job as a Muslim woman in Tokyo, because her father introduced her to one of the directors who was a colleague. After Miho had children, her mother did not show a slight change of attitude but she did not despise the children either. Miho kept her faith, and she believed that Islam would not bring sorrow to her, and instead it would bring peace. That was why Miho waited patiently and respected her mother regarding no matter what. Miho's patience bore fruit and her mother gradually accepted her faith and understood that Miho's children were no less different from other children out there that needed to be loved.

Having the similar case as Miho, Juri also explained her difficulty in facing her mother after she converted to Islam. Totally the opposite was her father who was an open-minded person and supported Juri regarding her belief, whereas Juri's mother was always against Juri's choice to become a Muslim. What made everything worse was the fact that Juri's mother often said about negative things to Juri and, to be honest, it made Juri upset. Juri tried her best to respect her mother and did not cut relationship either, but by all means she was upset. Juri lived with her husband, and children and her ninety-six year old grandmother, and was trying hard to keep herself sane while taking care of so many people at the same time. Nevertheless, anger was not supposed to take over Juri's emotion, because, as written in the Hadith (Sunan an-Nasa'i, The Book of Jihad, Book 25, Hadith 20) about mother, the Prophet Muhammad SAW said, "Your heaven lies beneath the feet of your mother." Juri was probably holding on to this phrase and continued her life. Different from Miho and Juri who were having struggles in facing their opposing parents, the rest of the born-Muslim Indonesian housewives were all having supportive parents. In fact, the Japanese Muslims struggled with keeping their faith and proving to people that what they believe was right, while the Indonesian Muslims seemed to question their faith halfway, although in the end they were completely sure about their faith (as referred in 3.1.). What made them all seem indistinguishable was their role as mother themselves. Most of them had children and they realized that they were the Heaven for their children.

Nana said that, when she had her first daughter, she felt more responsible to herself and to her family as a good example. She wanted her daughter to grow while understanding the values of being a good Muslim. Therefore, Nana started to wear hijab, and she wanted her daughter to follow her step one day when she grows up. This way of thinking was also declared by Miho, who thought that, if she had shown weaknesses in Islam, she would be sure that her children would have a weak heart in Islam, too. And that was not what Miho or Juri or Sita wanted for their children. These women educate their children with Islamic teachings so that the children could grow with stronger personalities. Strong personalities here mean they have a good faith yet they could be wise in socializing in the society. For example, Juri taught her children to start doing fasting, especially for the first and second sons. She did not expect them to do completely for a whole month, but when her sons showed her that they could complete it, she felt proud. In the midst of summer, fulfilling their duties as students and doing homework and other outdoor activities, they could still perform their duty as Muslims at the same time. Another story came from Nana's daughter who was still in the first year of elementary school and she insisted to her mother that she wanted to wear hijab at school. Nana was never forcing her daughter to wear hijab in the first place, but when she knew that her daughter wanted to wear it so much, she supported her attitude. Fortunately, even though Nana's daughter came to school with a different appearance, she could still socialize well with the other children. One more interesting story came from Miho's children who protested against her about a photo of her standing between her husband and other male. The problem was, Miho seemed to be standing closer to the other male rather than to her husband. In Islam, there is a law that states about men and women who are not mahram (unmarriageable kin) must not have physical contact with each other and are suggested to keep a space between them. This is explained in the Hadith, but it is originally prescribed in the Holy Quran. "Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with that they do." (An-Noor: 30) Then the next part is also important. "And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessary] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husband's sons, their brothers, their brother's sons, their sister's sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed." (An-Noor: 31)

It was important to understand the basic about mahram for the children, because it could avoid them from making sins. Especially in Japan, it seems to be very free to have physical interactions or even intimate relationships between men and women. In television shows, or commercial movies, almost everything looks appropriate, but that does not mean it could be justified. Miho and Juri who had teenager children, were deeply concerned about this and tried to educate their children in the right way. Moreover, others like Nana and Sita who are still with underage children would need to be more prepared in the future to protect their children.

But actually, in order to be successful in protecting the children, the husbands and wives must protect and look after each other. The housewives told that they had strong relationships with their partners and always tried to support each other. For example, Miho and her husband agreed that, for the future of their children as Muslim children and half Japanese-half Moroccan at the same time, they wanted to build a Muslim Community Center in Shizuoka and it was already going on. And then Juri, whose husband is a Palestinian and is still learning the Japanese language patiently, is helping her husband to study more eagerly in order for him to be able to live as a normal employee and preach Islam at the same time. Nana and Sita's husbands showed gratitude towards their wives because of wearing hijab and that meant that they were successful in protecting their wives. Meanwhile, Eni, who does not have a child, dedicates all of her available free time for her husband. It is written in the Holy Quran about men's exalted degree over women. "But the men have a degree over them [in responsibility and authority]. And Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise." (Al-Baqara:228) In other words, wives are to respect their husbands as long as the husbands guide them in a good path.

The actual condition of being a housewife lies in the household. These housewives spend the most time in caring for their children, loving their husbands and respecting their parents. Regarding the issues that they face in their households, they can endure the challenges with patience and humble attitude. These housewives believe that, in order to have the desired environment, they need to build it themselves. And regarding the environment, of course, they commented about this based on their experiences. The following section is about their experiences in different socio-cultural environments they have lived in so far.

3.4. Home country versus abroad

The most interesting part of these Muslim women's stories is about their experience in foreign residential environments. What makes it unique is the fact that, for Miho and Juri, they are currently living in their home country, yet they do not feel the warmth they felt when they were living abroad. On the other hand, Nana, Sita and Eni are currently living away from their home country. The common thing that these Muslim women had was the atmosphere in Japan that was not yet perfect for Muslims to live in. As a comparison, these women stated that, back in Indonesia, U.S., or New Zealand, everything was very easy for Muslims. Muslims were given various accesses to many facilities in the public space such as school, prayer room, halal food, Islamic community, and many more. Whilst in Japan, it was to the contrary. The housewives with children said that they needed to check whether the school was accepting multicultural children as students or not. If the schools accept multicultural children, it is safe for them to send their children to study there. This is important, because schools in Japan usually provide lunch for their students. However, the food provided is usually not halal and the parents need to clarify to the school that their children would not eat the school's lunch and they would bring their own lunch meal. If the school is not familiar with multicultural customs, it would be hard for them to understand, and moreover, to accept them.

Starting with Juri, she stated that everything in Japan had to be asked for consents. For Juri's children, Juri went to the school at the beginning of enrollment and told to the school that her sons would bring their own lunch meal because they could not eat pork or alcohol or anything that was related with those two. Juri also asked the teacher to allow the children to pray when it was the time to pray and asked for a prayer space. Fortunately, both were allowed, although sometimes Juri's son did not perform prayer because of feeling shy. At another time, Juri went to the school again to explain about Ramadan, the fasting month for Muslims. Juri asked for the school's understanding and respect if her child would fast for the whole day according to the Islamic law. Asking for consent did happen not only to Juri's children, but also to Juri's husband. He had to try to explain to the company about the need to pray with limited language ability. Unfortunately, although the midday prayer could be done during the lunch break, the afternoon prayer could not be done and he had to wait until he finished his work. Juri told that, back in New Zealand, she did not have those kinds of concerns at all. She sent the children to the school with multicultural students and no consents were needed. In fact, the school automatically provided for the children the conveniences such as prayer room and Islamic lesson every once a week, and supported the children when Ramadan came. Outside the school, the children could get extra Islamic lessons along with the adults at the nearest mosques or Islamic communities.

Miho had quite a similar story as Juri. In Miho's case, she left the U.S. when her first-born was one year old, so she did not experience sending her child to school in that country. But, Miho said that she felt calmer and happier when she was back in the U.S., because, in that country she was close to the Islamic community and lived within the range of that community. Miho could increase her faith and got supports from her surroundings and, of course, there was easy access to prayer rooms. When Miho returned to Japan, however, that became her first test. There were no nearest Islamic communities for her to lean on and she had to do everything from zero. As the time went by, Miho had more children and needed to be more cautious in watching their growth. She experienced the same thing just as Juri did. She selected the schools that were fitting for her children and also had to ask for school's consents to allow her children to bring their own lunch, perform prayer and fasting.

Nana and Sita also told stories about sending their children to schools. Nana asked the school to allow her daughter to wear hijab at school. Even though her daughter had not reached her puberty, Nana wanted to let her daughter practice wearing the hijab and the school allowed it. Nana and her husband also experienced asking for the company they work at to allow them to perform prayer and, if possible, provide the prayer space. Fortunately, both were provided. Meanwhile, Sita asked permission to the school to allow her son to bring his own lunch. Everything was based on permission in Japan. On the other hand, it is needless in Indonesia to ask for permission, for example, to access all the facilities. In schools and companies, prayer rooms are automatically provided, even in international companies. In public facilities such as malls, hospitals, and train stations, there are also provided prayer rooms. And regarding the Ramadan, it is even natural that restaurants cover their windows and doors with curtains during the day in order to respect those who are performing fasting. Even schools and companies change their schedule to adjust to the fasting people.

I was reminded of my experience in working in a Japanese company in Indonesia. I could still pray in a small space that was meant as prayer room and was allowed to pray again even though there was no official break time. And during the Ramadan, the office hour was shortened for half an hour earlier and, on Fridays, the break time was one hour longer because the male employees had to do Jumaah (Friday) prayer. In Japan, it would be a miracle if these policies were applied for the Muslims. Furthermore, not only prayers and fasting, but halal products and religious items, in this case represented by hijab for Muslim women, are abundant in Indonesia, New Zealand and the U.S., and they are easier to obtain. As I decided to study in Japan, I prepared around forty pieces of hijab and cooking ingredients and seasonings, as well as instant food to be brought to Japan just in case it was hard to get halal food in that country. But, the preparation proved worthy. Halal food was not easy to get in Shizuoka and sometimes non-halal items were also accidentally bought because of not knowing properly about the ingredients. Of course, it was sometimes difficult to pray in Japan. Even when I was studying in a Japanese language school, to have an opportunity to pray in a very short time of break was very rare. It was weird to be in a language school that accepted students from various countries, but they did not give sufficient chances for the Muslims to perform religious duites. Another thing was about the hijab. I made the right decision to bring many pieces of hijab from Indonesia because, ever since my arrival in Japan, I had never found any shops selling hijab to my knowledge. Probably for other women, it would be acceptable to use the long scarves that are sold in shops, but I have a different preference from them and the kind of hijab that I prefer is not available in Japan. What I need is a large square type of hijab, folded once into a triangle, the wide side put on top of the head and then locked right under the chin with a safety pin. It is the simplest and most comfortable way of wearing hijab for me.

The ladies told about their experiences in buying the hijab, too. Nana, Sita and Eni, of course, told that they all brought hijab from Indonesia. None of them had experiences in buying 'real hijab' in Japan. Only sometimes they would buy long scarves to add a little sense of fashion if they wanted. Juri and Miho also said that they never bought hijab in Japan. Juri brought all of her hijab collections from New Zealand and Miho brought some from the U.S. and sometimes asked for some Indonesian friends to buy for her whenever they returned to Indonesia for a short period. The point is, no 'real hijab' is sold in Japan, but we could substitute hijab with long scarves available in Japan. Interestingly, the ladies and this author had different preferences in hijab. When I met each of the ladies, I noticed that most of them wore hijab with no pattern, except Juri who wore a hijab with a faint stripe pattern. She was also wearing an inner hijab, some kind of bandana, before she wore the hijab on outside and she pinned the hijab with a needle. Actually, Eni and Miho also liked to use inner hijab before putting on the outer hijab. Both Eni and Miho preferred cotton fabric for their hijab. Meanwhile, for Nana and Sita, they were both wearing an instant-wearing hijab at the time they were interviewed. The type of hijab that they were wearing was the simplest and practical one, and there was no need to use neither a safety pin nor a needle to fix the hijab.

Although, for the foreign housewives and the Japanese housewives, living outside of Japan had given them more facilities and accesses that support their daily life and their family members in practicing Islamic law, they admitted that living in Japan is also not that bad. In order to have such availability of the daily goods and facilities as they had abroad before, they improvised their way of living in Japan to feel similar with the previous environment.

0 notes

actualmuslimwomen · 3 years

Text

CHAPTER 4

ANALYSIS OF THE LIFE CONDITIONS AND ISSUES OF MUSLIM STUDENTS

It must be rather hard for the students who are studying abroad to live away from their family while having to survive and be successful in their study at the same time. Pressures come from all directions and their success depends on how strong they are to overcome obstacles in their life. The stories of their life in Japan will be shown below.

4.1. Islam as a faith

In the previous chapter, I have described two Japanese women who had converted to Islam and wore hijab as one of the ways of showing their faith. But, here in this chapter, I will point out two students who admitted that they did not wear the hijab despite of being a Muslim. The reasons are related to their interesting backgrounds.

Fadiya is a Bangladeshi and a born-Muslim. According to the Pew Research Center, Bangladesh is currently the fourth country in the world with the largest number of Muslims after India as the third ("Mapping the Global Muslim Population", Pew Research Center, www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population/. Accessed 28 December 2017). This means that Fadiya was born in a Muslim-majority country. Her family members are all Muslims and her mother habitually wears hijab, but Fadiya does not wear one. Fadiya argues that it is not mandatory to wear hijab for Muslim women in Bangladesh and there is no government's regulation for Muslim women to wear hijab, either. Fadiya continues her argument that it all depends on the individual and the family culture. Fadiya's mother always encouraged her to wear hijab, but she never actually said that it was a must for Fadiya to wear hijab. Because her mother never forced her, Fadiya decided not to wear hijab. Nevertheless, she still observes other Islamic law related to Muslim obligations such as performing prayer and fasting.

Iesha has a different story on her choice in Islam and, to be honest, it is quite a startling story. Iesha came from Turkey, which is considered as the eighth country in the world with the largest number of Muslims. But, even though Turkey is considered as a country with a large number of Muslims, not everyone practices the faith so well. That is also the case with Iesha's family. Iesha's mother does not wear hijab. She performs prayer but only sometimes practices fasting. Though Iesha's mother does not wear hijab, she knows that she ought not to wear clothes that are too vulgar, so she wears clothes that rather covers her body. Iesha followed her mother as a role model, by just wearing casual clothes and not wearing hijab. One of the other reasons Iesha decided not to wear hijab was that there are situations in Turkey that forces women in headscarves to wear wig or take off their headscarves completely. By wearing wigs, they comply with the state regulations and try to fit in with the definition of the Modern Turkish women, at least in appearance. In turn, they were given access to education and workplace (Kavakci, 2010: 96). So, instead of forcing herself to wear hijab, Iesha chose not to wear one at all.

Now let us examine the cases of Eneng from Indonesia, Aishah from Malaysia and Tedha from Turkey. These girls were raised in an environment where they were taught the law of Islam well and their awareness of the duties as Muslim women was also grown. Although Aishah and Tedha did not clarify about how they decided to wear hijab at the beginning, they indicated that they already had worn hijab since they were younger (Tedha specifically told that she had started wearing hijab since she was fifteen years old). They were already used to wearing one and their behaviors did not change even after they came to live in Japan. Eneng told that she had started wearing hijab since her high school days. It was her mother who first encouraged her to wear one. Eneng's mother already wore hijab and she wanted her daughter to understand that it was about the time for her to wear hijab to fulfill one of the Islamic laws.

As far as I could understand, the reason for someone to decide something important is often due to a few simple keywords that came out of other people's statements or attitudes, especially those of parents. Fadiya interpreted her mother's statement and she decided not to wear hijab. Iesha saw her mother and thought of her mother as a role model and that made her not wear hijab just as her mother. This author too, decided to wear hijab because of my mother's statement. When my aunt decided that it was free for me to wear hijab or not during the wedding, to my surprise, my mother stated the otherwise. Since she wanted everyone to be uniformed whereas I was the only one who was not wearing hijab, she wanted me to wear hijab, too. It was only because of this kind of trifle matter shown by her attitude that I felt encouraged to make a big decision.

This section has shown some of the histories of the students regarding their religious faith. The students discussed above grew in an Islamic environment and they were all given the knowledge of Islamic law in their family. Despite of being so, they all have their own ways in practicing their faith. For them, Islam is fascinating yet complex religion and each individual chose the best way for them in practicing Islam in their daily life. How they live their daily life will be analyzed in the next section.

4.2. Activities as a Muslim Student

Since they came all the way to Japan, these Muslim students have also been involved in many activities in their daily life other than studying for the main purpose. For some of them, to have other activities else than just studying has really been precious, while not so for the others.

Iesha came to the University of Shizuoka as an Exchange Student and has been much involved in several other activities, inside or even outside of the campus. As a foreign student, Iesha participates in the International Friendship Community at the university. In that community, she would meet other foreign students too, and enjoy communication and sociality with the Japanese students. They sometimes hold events for international cultural exchange. Outside of the university, Iesha participated in many English Clubs. She often participates in international cultural exchange meetings after finding them out through Facebook. Iesha admits that she really enjoys this kind of events, because people would learn English and she would learn Japanese at the same time and both would learn each other's culture more deeply. Iesha also says that she is doing arubaito (part-time job) as an English conversation teacher. So, basically Iesha is involved in activities that she has always been interested in and she is really interested in meeting new people to exchange ideas. By the way, Aishah, Eneng and Tedha also participate in the same International Friendship Community because all of them are studying at the same university. Only Fadiya does not join this community because she only wishes to focus on studying according to her. In case that she is to participate in other activities, those are the kind of activities that she attends once or twice a month. She admits that she has an English Language Club to attend sometimes if her dormitory friends happen to gather. But, she spends most of her time at her research room.

Let us go to the next case of Tedha. She participated in the Photography Club during the first semester of the University of Shizuoka, but it did not last long because she could not bear the heat of summer while they often had to go out to look for photo objects. Although it did not go well, Tedha kept trying to do other activities. She was actually doing arubaito as an English teacher, just like Iesha was. Tedha taught English to some Japanese people who were mostly employees and then taught them English through practical conversation. The English Conversation lessons are usually held at coffee shops, which the students had chosen. To correspond to these students’ activities, this author also had the experience of joining the activities of the International Friendship Community. The community had a schedule once a week for everyone to gather during the lunchtime. On Wednesday lunchtime, they would have small conversations among the foreign and the Japanese students. Before the lunchtime is over, the community's leader proposes a discussion and voting session for their next events. The events are various. It could be a field trip, cooking party and even Christmas party. This author only participated in some of the events that seemed interesting like the field trip, because it was necessary for me to go somewhere that seemed unreachable by myself. I quitted the IFC after the second semester set in because I was starting to be very busy with my classes.

Different people might have had different attitudes. Eneng was in the same situation as this author, being busy in studying because Eneng and the author were both pursuing the Graduate Degree Program. Despite of her being busy, Eneng actually managed to participate in many activities inside and outside of the campus. She took part in the International Friendship Community too, although she only attended the big events without attending the weekly lunchtime gathering. Outside of the university, Eneng was engaged in two functions, namely, the Shizuoka Muslim Association, which was responsible for connecting the Muslim students at the University of Shizuoka and other Muslims who live especially in Shizuoka City, and Shinzen Taishi, which focused on introducing Indonesian cultures to the Japanese at schools. She also joined many study meetings with people from small and medium enterprises. Eneng who came for studying in Japan seemed to have taken a good chance in spreading her wings to get to know people better and get more knowledge. She considers that meeting people is precious for her, especially when she meets people that are admirable for her. Compared to the other students, Eneng was quite active in these organizational activities. Sometimes she would not only introduce Indonesian cultures, but also introduce Islam to the Japanese. She also often participates in events that the Shizuoka Muslim Association holds, such as in Ramadan. There is the breaking fasting event that gathers Muslims and any other Japanese who are interested from all over Shizuoka. This author attended this breaking fasting event once and it was pretty amazing with a great number of non-Muslim Japanese who were interested in and respecting the religious event by it themselves.

Other than participating in activities like those mentioned, Eneng also had arubaito. During her earlier years in the university, she was already doing arubaito in a hospital where she was mostly assisting the nurses to clean the surgery rooms after surgeries. But when she entered the second year of Graduate Degree Program, she had a different arubaito in a factory, packing pork meats into boxes. In Islam, it is not allowed to consume pork and any derivative of it. As mentioned in the Holy Quran, "He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah. But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." (Al-Baqara: 173) Therefore, Eneng worked in a factory, packing meat, but she did not consume it, so it was still permissible. This author was also in the same situation as Eneng. I was working in a tonkatsuya restaurant (restaurant specialized in pork cutlets) and the main tasks were to cook and serve the pork cutlets. But, of course, the author had no single desire to consume pork and everyone in the restaurant understood my choice.

To summarize, study is definitely the main reason these students came to Japan. Aside from studying, these students also participate in several community activities and services. As Muslims, even if they have to practice one of their duties according to the Islamic law in between their activities, they never stop doing their works. Practicing the religious faith and doing the secular activities can sometimes be contradictive, but there is always a solution to let both practices to be in accordance. These girls also try to balance their personal issues related to their faith. The next section will point those out.

4.3. Personal Issues

As the five students all came from a Muslim majority country, they would have had concerns before they came to Japan. Those concerns could be anything from how to get halal food, where to perform prayer and fasting, how to communicate with the local society, and even about experiencing of living alone.

Aishah was quite eager to tell about her experience. After she graduated from the high school, she decided to take a chance of studying in Japan through scholarship. She then took the test and preparation lesson for the scholarship and then she was chosen. Aishah admitted that she had been concerned about many things before coming to Japan, because she had never experienced living abroad. She just imagined how the situation in Japan would be. She was also concerned about food and friends, because for the first time in her life she was going to live alone in Japan, away from her family. As a child who was still young and had been living with her family all of the time and suddenly had to stay separated from the family for four years, it was a big concern for Aishah. She was very careful in making preparations to go to Japan. Aishah said that she had brought food, medicines and her hijab collections to Japan. When Aishah arrived in Japan, half of the predictions that she made actually came true. She thought that it would be hard to get halal food in Japan and it turned out that the only place she could get halal product near her area was the Gyomu Supa (supermarket for business retail). Since then, she always bought halal chicken meat and other halal products that she could get there. She also brought medicines and vitamins from her home country because she was not sure whether the medicines in Japan were safe to be consumed or not. Aishah's first experience in living abroad had made her do something that she was not previously used to. That was cooking. Aishah told that she could not cook, but somehow her survival instinct worked and she had to prepare her own meal every day, especially since she was living by herself. In fact, she told that she would not mind eating chicken every day because that was the only halal meat that she could obtain and also because she did not like seafood.

The other girls also had issues with halal food and each of them got different ways to solve their halal food issues. Fadiya explained that, although she sometimes went out eating noodles or vegetables, she also often cooked by herself at her dormitory. She also went to the Gyomu Supa to buy halal meat and some seasonings. Iesha and Tedha, who were living together as roommates, also often shopped at the Gyomu Supa. Meanwhile, Eneng had more options to shop for halal meat. She would sometimes shop at the Gyomu Supa too, but she also liked to buy halal meat from other Muslim women. From one of the women she knew at the Shizuoka Muslim Association, she could order halal beef, sausages, minced-meat, and even meat-balls. She only needed place an order through a private messenger and, when the products arrived, Eneng would pick up the ordered goods at the Musalla, the prayer room that functions as the official place for the Shizuoka Muslim Association. Looking at this, this author sometimes asked Eneng for her help to order meat for myself. Actually, if Eneng had not told me that ordering halal meat was this easy, I would probably have only shopped at the Gyomu Supa or just eaten fish and vegetables every day. So, it was quite helpful for the author, too.

Basically, trying to survive in Japan is easy, provided that information is passed on correctly. As an example, Fadiya told that there were other Bangladeshi students who were studying in Shizuoka and they were all connected through a social media. Through this social media, they were sharing information about obtaining halal food or simply just connecting with other Bangladeshi Muslims. Fadiya also told that she could not speak Japanese and therefore often asked her friends to translate and explain for her, so she still should buy the items that she needed even though she could not read the kanji.

Aishah also explained that she connected herself with other Malaysian students through an online application called Hangout. Aishah was affiliated with a Malaysian Muslim Community through this application. She got information on halal food and could chat with other Malaysian Muslims. Besides chatting with people online, Aishah also said that she sometimes saw some of her Malaysian friends in Shizuoka and they often hung out together by playing bowling, going to the beach, watching movies and many others. It was just because Aishah did not want to feel lonely. While Iesha and Tedha were relying on each other because they were roommates, Eneng was always asking for her senpai's (senior) advices before she got everything by herself. Remembering that she used to be unable to speak Japanese so well like now, she often asked her senpai to help her a lot in many things. She was blessed with good senpai, because her senpai taught her where to pray in public places, for example, by pointing to the fitting room or the stairs space near an emergency exit. Or her senpai would take her to the restaurants that were safe for Muslims to eat at in Shizuoka.

This author also had been in almost the same situation as these students. I relied on my senpai who was my colleague back in Indonesia and also she always taught me what was to be avoided and what was to be acquired. What I felt really important was when I experienced shopping and talking at the customer service or even answering a phone call or making a taxi order. It was precious to understand these know-hows and, of course, to practice relying on self.

Another personal issue that is important is probably for Eneng and Fadiya, because they are already married, whereas their husbands are away from them. If the other girls probably sometimes called their families and told how they missed the people at home, Eneng and Fadiya missed their husbands. Living separated from their husband is sometimes hard and it would be nice to have supports from them most of the time, but they have to hold themselves for now only by calling their partners whenever they have the time. Eneng probably has to wait until she graduates to see her husband again, but Fadiya had her husband once come to visit her in Shizuoka and that might have made her a little bit stronger than Eneng.

From the data presented above, it can be concluded that, in fulfilling their daily meals, these students need to get products that are allowed in the Islamic law. The needed goods are not always easy to get, but they try their best to acquire themselves. Since most of them are living alone, however, sometimes they miss their family members and need friends. They are all fighting their loneliness and difficulties to survive. In the next section, they will tell stories about some merits and demerits living in their home country and abroad.

4.4. Home country versus abroad

In this section, there are some interesting stories to be unfolded. Each of the students tells how it is different to live in Japan in comparison with their living experience in their home country.

Aishah told her story about performing prayer. Unlike in Malaysia, it was not always easy to pray in public places in Japan. When Aishah went to the university, she would go to the International Meeting Room that was meant for foreign students to hang out with the Japanese students, and also performed her prayer there. But if Aishah went out of the campus, she would have to find a secluded place to pray, such as the fitting room at shopping malls, stairs space near emergency exits or even beside a car in a parking lot. If Aishah were not careful, she would have been told to leave or warned. But, that never happened. Anyway, in Malaysia, the prayer rooms were abundant and provided everywhere. Even if people go along the highway, they will see a rest area with prayer rooms, or even when people go to stations, they can easily find prayer rooms as well. In Indonesia, the prayer rooms were provided everywhere as long as people wish so. Even at schools, because the Islamic lesson is included in the curriculum, having a prayer room is a must. Even the Christian or Catholic Schools had their own chapel inside the school. For the girls who all came from Muslim countries, mosques must have been everywhere to be found, unlike in Shizuoka.

Speaking about prayer, the author found out that they all had different styles in performing prayer. The Turkish and the Malaysian students stated that, when they were performing prayer, they only needed to wear clean clothes or the clothes that they were wearing if they were traveling. For the Bangladeshi student, it did not matter whether she wore short-sleeved shirt but, as long as she covered her head using long scarf, she could already perform prayer. The Indonesian students present the most unique case of all. It was a characteristic for Indonesians to wear abaya or mukena (both were dresses for performing prayer) to pray. This probably was a tradition in order to be more careful in performing prayer, because it was meant to present oneself to Allah with a cleaner and holier outfit. Besides the prayer outfit, there were also differences in the hijabs that the students wore. Tedha and Aishah liked to wear hijab with no pattern and the colors were usually darker. Meanwhile, Eneng liked to wear hijab with patterns although sometimes she wore the plain ones. For Eneng, it was important to match her hijab with her outfit. This author was different from Eneng, although both came from the same country, and I like to wear no pattern hijab and very rarely wear hijab with patterns. Eneng and I both like to wear colorful hijab, although I prefer more dominant bright colors. Compared to Tedha and Aishah, those are totally different choices.

The next story comes from Iesha. As previously mentioned in 4.1. about her faith, actually in Turkey, many people only put Islam on their identity cards but do not practice Islam completely. Her father is one of the examples and that is probably why her knowledge about Islam is lacking. Above all, in Turkey, discrimination occurs frequently. Tedha agreed this statement, too. Tedha experienced being stared in the street with disturbing eyes, and they just seemed to be impolite for Tedha. Regardless of whether they are in a Muslim country or in their home country, they are still stared disturbingly. While they are in Japan, they would sometimes be stared, but those might be curious stares and eventually the staring people would approach them and greet them. But this might not work for all foreigners, because this author had some experiences where I was stared by kids, and they were looking at me with a worried face. A kid even jumped at once when he saw me walking into a shop wearing a cap and a mask. Then he ran toward his mother but his mother spoke nothing. Some people are not yet used to seeing people with hijab, but for parents, at least they could have told their children that women wearing hijab were not bad people.

One of the best things that could happen to a Muslim when Ramadan already finishes is to enjoy the Eid-al Fitri. In Indonesia, it is called Lebaran, a festival to celebrate finishing Ramadan for a whole month. There is another celebration, Eid-al Adha, the moment to sacrifice animals to show the believers' faithfulness to Allah. In those two traditions, it is common that people pray together in a mosque and, after the prayer is finished, everyone would gather and have a meal together. In Japan, unless somebody had a wide space to accommodate a lot of people, it is impossible to hold this event. Another thing is about sacrificing animal. In Japan, it is not allowed to slaughter an animal at places other than what has been designated so by the authorities. In Indonesia, regarding the Eid-al Adha, digging a hole at someone's lawn by the owner's permission, of course, or at a mosque's lawn is common. It is the whole process from praying together, slaughtering the animal, preparing the meat and having a meal together up to giving away the meat to those who need it, that is called iman (devout).

Lastly, there is another story from Fadiya regarding a Bangladeshi acquaintance that had passed away in Shizuoka. The deceased was a woman, but during the burial ceremony, no women were allowed to come. Only men were allowed to perform the prayer for the deceased in front of the body and only the men were allowed to enter near the grave. Fadiya had her husband to attend this burial ceremony at that time. This burial ceremony tradition was totally different from the Indonesian tradition. In Indonesia, before burying the deceased body, both men and women would gather and pray in front of the body. After the family agreed on the time for burial, some men and women, including the family, would also come to the burial ceremony and give the last prayer.

With all of the differences in culture and tradition, it seems that there are many efforts done to adjust themselves with the Japanese society. The Muslim students mentioned in this section arrived in Japan with the history of their home countries on their back. Some had bitter experiences in their home country, but, on the other hand, they felt accepted warmly in Japan. Some even wished the tradition that they had back in their home country could be celebrated in Japan, too. Although some of these students experienced being prejudiced, those were considered as small obstacles, considering their success of survival in Japan. In summary, despite of Japan being a non-Muslim country, they mostly keep trust and hope in Japan as a country that can accept diversities.

0 notes