Japan’s battle to simply accept outsiders has been uncovered as soon as once more after a video of a right-wing lawmaker arguing in opposition to Muslim burials went viral.
The video confirmed Mizuho Umemura, a Home of Councillors member from the populist Sanseito celebration, objecting to the burial of Muslim residents throughout a parliamentary debate late final month.
She argued that cremation was an important nationwide customized practised by greater than 99 per cent of Japanese folks and mentioned that approving new burial grounds for Muslims can be inappropriate given land constraints and issues about groundwater contamination.
Responding to requires Muslim residents’ burial choices to be expanded, Umemura reportedly mentioned that foreigners settling in Japan must be advised that in the event that they die “they will both be cremated or have their stays repatriated” at their very own expense.
Her remarks triggered a wave of on-line debate about balancing respect for cultural heritage with the realities of a altering inhabitants within the ageing nation.
“The foreigners ought to respect the nation’s legal guidelines and traditions,” learn one reply to a social media put up on the controversy. “What concerning the Muslim residents of Japan?” requested one other. “Those that aren’t foreigners are literally natives born there. They imagine within the Islamic method.”