By HIDEAKI ISHIBASHI/ Senior Staff Writer
December 22, 2024 at 18:46 JST
Burial plots for people of the Muslim faith in a temple cemetery in Minami-Yamashiro, Kyoto Prefecture (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
SENDAI--As a come-on, Miyagi Prefecture hopes to be able to promise Indonesian and other Muslim workers they will be buried appropriately if they die in Japan.
The prefectural government reached an agreement with Indonesia last year to accept more technical interns and specified skilled workers from the Southeast Asian country.
It hopes to ensure that those who settle here will not have to worry about a burial spot if they or others of the Muslim faith die in Japan.
Islam requires a full burial, and there are only 10 or so cemeteries in Japan that allow that.
Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai told a prefectural assembly session in October that his administration hopes to secure a spot for burials within the prefecture after hearing opinions from Muslim groups and inspecting facilities around the country that accept burials.
Prefectural officials began visiting the facilities this month.
According to the prefecture, options include creating a prefectural cemetery or asking existing municipal or private-sector cemeteries to accept burials.
Although there is no Japanese law against interment, many local governments effectively do not allow it under ordinances or other regulations.
Muslim residents in Miyagi Prefecture consulted with a local government about creating a cemetery for burials without cremation.
But the effort did not gain traction after discussions on whether the surrounding environment would be affected and whether a consensus could be reached among residents.
In the past when a Muslim resident died, the body was transported to a faraway cemetery in Japan that accepts burials or flown back to the home country, officials said.
Tama Cemetery in the western Tokyo city of Fuchu and Kobe Municipal Foreign Cemetery are the two public facilities that accept burials.
But there are no new plots available at Tama Cemetery, whereas the Kobe facility accommodates only foreign residents of the city.
Other burial grounds are operated by private-sector entities. None is in the Tohoku region.
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