Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I examine how Muslim women in the Tohoku region of Japan negotiate with their surroundings within the context of existing political management approaches. I argue that these Muslim women achieve self-cultivation by agently translating their marginalized social status to their benefit.

Paper long abstract:

Concerns about migrant Muslim women who are perceived as oppressed have garnered extensive attention in contemporary Europe, where prescriptive norms of gender equality and sexual freedom are increasingly defining debates on immigrant integration (Bilge 2010). By contrast, their Muslim counterparts in Japan are in a very different situation. While Japan is regarded for its economic development, it lags behind other developed countries when it comes to “closed-door" immigration and descent-based citizenship politics (Chung 2010; Endoh 2019). Due to the little attention given to gender issues at the public level and the marginal position of religion in politics (Toyota and Tanaka 2002), migrant Muslim women have not been viewed as a distinct group. Combined with a sparse population, Muslim women in Japan confront a variety of challenges, including a lack of Muslim-friendly facilities, Japanese people's indifferent attitude towards the Muslim minority, and the problem of being othered. However, despite these inconveniences and difficulties, Muslim women tend to perceive their situation in a positive light and strive to take advantage of a society that is less Islamophobic than other popular immigration countries. By adopting a "cooperative" strategy, these Muslim women agently go beyond the compliance/resistance frame and aim to carve a life that suits them better: they do not strive to be recognized as members of Japanese society but rather see this as a chance to be a better Muslim and to promote the image of Islam in Japan, which at the same time allows them to achieve self-cultivation as well.