Tokyo company debuts Mobile Mosque ahead of 2020 Olympics
COURETSY MOBILE MOSQUE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE / AP
Mobile Mosque, a mosque on wheels with the capacity for up to 50 people, was unveiled in July at Toyota Stadium in Toyota, Japan. As Japan prepares to host visitors from around the world for the Summer Olympics in 2020, a Tokyo sports and cultural events company has created a mosque on wheels that its head hopes will make Muslim visitors feel at home.
COURETSY MOBILE MOSQUE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE / AP
Mobile Mosque, a mosque on wheels with the capacity for up to 50 people, was unveiled in July at Toyota Stadium in Toyota, Japan. As Japan prepares to host visitors from around the world for the Summer Olympics in 2020, a Tokyo sports and cultural events company has created a mosque on wheels that its head hopes will make Muslim visitors feel at home.
TOKYO >> A large white and blue truck pulls up outside a stadium in central Japan and slowly expands into a place of worship.
Welcome to the Mobile Mosque.
As Japan prepares to host visitors from around the world for the 2020 Summer Olympics, a Tokyo company has created a mosque on wheels that its head hopes will make Muslim visitors feel at home.
Yasuharu Inoue, the CEO of Yasu Project, said the possibility that there might not be enough mosques for Muslim visitors in 2020 is alarming for a country that considers itself part of the international community. His Mobile Mosques could travel to different Olympic venues as needed.
“As an open and hospitable country, we want to share the idea of ‘omotenashi’ (Japanese hospitality) with Muslim people,” he said.
The first Mobile Mosque was unveiled in late July outside Toyota Stadium, a J-League soccer venue in Toyota City, which is also the headquarters of the car company of the same name.
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The back of the modified 25-ton truck flipped up revealing an entrance, and the side slid out, doubling the width of the truck. The 515-square-foot room can accommodate 50 people.
Muslim guests prayed inside the mosque, which includes outdoor taps and a washing area for pre-worship cleansing.
Indonesian students who were victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami participated in the debut ceremony.
“The Mobile Mosque is very important to Muslim people such as Japanese people or tourists, Muslim tourists who visit Japan,” said 14-year-old Nur Azizah. “I want to show my friends.”
An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Muslims live in Japan.
Inoue said the inspiration for the project came to him on a trip to Qatar four years ago.
Initially, the project organizers plan to target international sporting events in Japan and overseas.
“Going forward, I would be so happy if people from Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, the Middle East and, for example, refugees who are coming from Syria are able to use the mosque as a tool to promote world peace,” he said.
