John Ostermiller

JOHN OSTERMILLER, then a graduate student at University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, was awarded funding in April 2023 to aid research on “Between Piety and Popularity: Cultural Code-switching and Muslim Migrant Communities in Japan,” supervised by Dr. Erin Stiles. Foreigners living in Japan often face considerable challenges living in Japanese society. These challenges stem from cultural differences and popular assumptions about Japanese language, culture, and “blood.” Because most foreigners lack Japanese “blood,” they are often treated as perpetual outsiders. Research on migrants in Japan is robust; yet the role of religion is less well understood. Over the past 10 months the grantee identified three key themes researching a migrant Muslim community living in a Japanese prefectural capital: 1) Japanese assumptions about religion complicates the lives of Muslims living Japan because they must balance religious duties and convictions against assumptions about Islam and stereotypes about Muslims; 2) research on migrants (religious and otherwise) is greatly enhanced by considering how multiple factors (gender, occupation, ethnicity, religion, etc.) shape the challenges, strategies, and experiences they encounter in Japanese society; and 3) the gaps between the narratives of inclusion and diversity told by both city officials as well as Muslim communities themselves reveal the unique challenges religious and non-religious migrants alike navigate on a daily basis. But despite these challenges, it is evident that Muslim migrants in Japan are dynamic, active, creative members of society who contribute to their various communities in substantive ways.