Discrimination towards foreign residents in Japan has expanded from Koreans and Kurds to Muslims as their population is estimated to have nearly doubled in recent years, according to observers and community members.

Misinformation and hate speech are spreading on Japanese social media and mosques are receiving a barrage of abusive phone calls and emails.

Some are asking why they are suddenly being targeted. Others are afraid to leave their homes.

Muslims in Japan, including foreign residents and Japanese believers, numbered roughly 420,000 at the end of 2024, up from 230,000 in 2019, according to Hirofumi Tanada, a professor emeritus at Waseda University who studies the faith in Japan. There are now over 160 mosques nationwide.

Last year in Osaka, a rumour spread that the Muslim call to prayer was being broadcast at high volume from a mosque in the early morning.

In February of this year, a series of suspicious fires broke out at a mosque and a used car showroom operated by Pakistani nationals in Ebetsu, Hokkaido, northern Japan.