Modern Japanese Empire treatment of Muslims?

Saw something about the treatment of Muslims by the Japanese within camps in Japan recently. It made me wonder what if the Japanese Empire still existed somehow, how would they treat and view Muslims within their country and puppets. How would Muslims view them. For the sake of this pod let’s say Islamic extremism still rises and the Islamic world faces similar problems to now. Also the rest of the world besides Far East develops in a similar way. I know within China during World War 2 and the 30s they were targeted more so by the empire compared to other groups.
 
Saw something about the treatment of Muslims by the Japanese within camps in Japan recently. It made me wonder what if the Japanese Empire still existed somehow, how would they treat and view Muslims within their country and puppets. How would Muslims view them. For the sake of this pod let’s say Islamic extremism still rises and the Islamic world faces similar problems to now. Also the rest of the world besides Far East develops in a similar way. I know within China during World War 2 and the 30s they were targeted more so by the empire compared to other groups.
I would wager something similar to the Xinjiang situation in China now, i.e. Muslims within the Empire would be regarded somewhat suspiciously by the entrenched militarist establishment as a possibly disloyal element.
 
I would wager something similar to the Xinjiang situation in China now, i.e. Muslims within the Empire would be regarded somewhat suspiciously by the entrenched militarist establishment as a possibly disloyal element.
Do you think the Japanese Empire would be a major target for possible Islamic terrorist attacks by radical groups as time passes. The Japanese in our world have been pretty strict in its recent handling of Muslims. I imagine even if the empire liberalizes it will still be a lot more brutal towards Muslims then now.
 
Do you think the Japanese Empire would be a major target for possible Islamic terrorist attacks by radical groups as time passes. The Japanese in our world have been pretty strict in its recent handling of Muslims. I imagine even if the empire liberalizes it will still be a lot more brutal towards Muslims then now.
Oh absolutely, the Emperor is the head of the Shinto faith, and a surviving Imperial Japan would be considered idolatrous by Muslim extremists.
 
Oh absolutely, the Emperor is the head of the Shinto faith, and a surviving Imperial Japan would be considered idolatrous by Muslim extremists.
I think that would become more symbolic and well respect position but not worshiped like a god. Emperor might still have a good amount of power but I still think Japan becomes highly irreligious with Shinto religion becoming done because of nationalism and tradition but not dogmatic belief. I feel like a Japanese Empire would look at Abrahamic religions as backwards but view Islam similarly to how right wing atheist view it especially when terrorism gets big. But extreme Muslims probably see Japanese incorrectly as emperor worshipping
 
The majority of Muslims would be Hui Chinese, and thus treated similarly to other Chinese. The native Japanese Muslim population was tiny in the 1940s, and without immigration of Hui Chinese, Indonesians, Malays, etc. would be even smaller since interfaith marriages are the majority of Japanese converts (and said Muslim Asian immigrants the majority of Japanese Muslims).

Do you think the Japanese Empire would be a major target for possible Islamic terrorist attacks by radical groups as time passes. The Japanese in our world have been pretty strict in its recent handling of Muslims. I imagine even if the empire liberalizes it will still be a lot more brutal towards Muslims then now.

The Hui would be the only source of Islamist terrorists, since I could see many of them turning toward religion as a source of radicalism (and Japan using this as a divide and conquer strategy amongst the Chinese).

But otherwise, no, Japan wouldn't be a major target for Islamist terrorism, because outside of the Hui there would barely be any Muslims at all and they would tend toward keeping their heads down because they'd be under strict surveillance.
 
The majority of Muslims would be Hui Chinese, and thus treated similarly to other Chinese. The native Japanese Muslim population was tiny in the 1940s, and without immigration of Hui Chinese, Indonesians, Malays, etc. would be even smaller since interfaith marriages are the majority of Japanese converts (and said Muslim Asian immigrants the majority of Japanese Muslims).



The Hui would be the only source of Islamist terrorists, since I could see many of them turning toward religion as a source of radicalism (and Japan using this as a divide and conquer strategy amongst the Chinese).

But otherwise, no, Japan wouldn't be a major target for Islamist terrorism, because outside of the Hui there would barely be any Muslims at all and they would tend toward keeping their heads down because they'd be under strict surveillance.
Let’s say the Japanese takeover Indonesia when the Netherlands gets taken over by the Nazis. Japan avoids conflict with the United States(they still fight Germany for one reason or a other) and Japan stays out of ww2. If they have Indonesia directly, as a puppet, or a mix of the two how does that go now when it comes to Islam? Also what if later on the Japanese becomes more friendly with the US during the Cold War and after the USSR falls apart they get more involved in the Middle East on the Americans side due to desires relating to oil?
 
ironically, the Japanese are arguably responsible for Islamic extremism as we know it :p (the Japanese Red Army, a marxist group active in the Near East during the Cold War, is actually how Islamic extremism adopted suicide bombing)

generally, i agree--there'd probably be alot of mutual antagonism between the Japanese and Muslims ITTL. for some more OTL precedent, a jihad was declared against Imperial Japan by i think the Uyghurs during World War II in response to Japanese atrocities
 
Let’s say the Japanese takeover Indonesia when the Netherlands gets taken over by the Nazis. Japan avoids conflict with the United States(they still fight Germany for one reason or a other) and Japan stays out of ww2. If they have Indonesia directly, as a puppet, or a mix of the two how does that go now when it comes to Islam? Also what if later on the Japanese becomes more friendly with the US during the Cold War and after the USSR falls apart they get more involved in the Middle East on the Americans side due to desires relating to oil?

Taking over Indonesia is a direct act of aggression though. It isn't Japan's to take, and I don't see how they wouldn't get a war declaration on them as a result. And even then, why would they let so many Indonesians into Japan proper? Even if they did, I doubt they'd have more than OTL there, and thus not many more Muslims than OTL. Sure, it could radicalise Indonesia, but these Indonesian radicals would mostly be attacking other Indonesians and wouldn't so much be attacking Japan. Like ATL's Hui, it would be seen as an anti-colonial/anti-imperialist struggle as much as it is a religious fundamentalist issue.

As for Japan engaging in Middle Eastern wars, Japan still won't have many Muslims to commit terrorist attacks, and I doubt Imperial Japan would be any more open to immigration than OTL Japan (and if they were, like modern Japan, they'd seek immigrants from non-Muslim countries like Vietnam, etc.). The US has had fewer Islamist terrorist attacks, probably in part because European countries have more Muslims and thus a bigger base to radicalise. While a Japanese "9/11" or some other event is possible, I wouldn't rate it too high on the plausibility scale (9/11 as it was borders ASB luck). Islamists already hate Japan--ISIS killed that one journalist, the Japanese translator of the Satanic Verses was murdered by an Islamist student, and they hate Japan's culture. Attacking Japan, hurting their economy and killing their people, would make sense, but they've never really bothered. I don't see why this would be too different in some ATL. ATL Japanese influence in the Middle East is already throwing a big wrench into things, but I don't see why this Japan would necessarily be too friendly with the US (at least not much more than China is, since Japan and the US are competing over the Pacific and all), plus Japan has Sakhalin/Karafuto's oil, plus they get a lot of Manchukuo/China's oil, and they have investment in their own indigenous oil, and they likely are even more nuclear than OTL (the anti-nuclear movement could be more or less "vanished").
 
Saw something about the treatment of Muslims by the Japanese within camps in Japan recently.
Don't you mean China ? If your talking about China they only targeted the Uyghur population not other groups of Muslims.

It made me wonder what if the Japanese Empire still existed somehow, how would they treat and view Muslims within their country and puppets. How would Muslims view them.
They would treat them similar to Christianity. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Christianity_in_Japan#World_War_II. Japan would still have a small Muslim population. The Muslims in any Japanese empire which contains south-east Asia and China would be located in puppet states not in Japan proper or other official colonies. There would be no official or one set policy for the Muslim population but it would depend on where they are located,ethnicity, and the attitudes of the puppet leaders.
 
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The Hui would be the only source of Islamist terrorists, since I could see many of them turning toward religion as a source of radicalism.
Not happening as long as Chinese resistance movements are still kicking around.No reason to pick up another ideology when there is another extremely popular,respected, and established one. Not to mention any Hui Islamist group would be vastly outnumbered and would be targeted by other Chinese groups.
for some more OTL precedent, a jihad was declared against Imperial Japan by i think the Uyghurs during World War II in response to Japanese atrocities
That was the Hui
 
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Saw something about the treatment of Muslims by the Japanese within camps in Japan recently. It made me wonder what if the Japanese Empire still existed somehow, how would they treat and view Muslims within their country and puppets. How would Muslims view them. For the sake of this pod let’s say Islamic extremism still rises and the Islamic world faces similar problems to now. Also the rest of the world besides Far East develops in a similar way. I know within China during World War 2 and the 30s they were targeted more so by the empire compared to other groups.

Look at how modern, democratic Japan treats Muslims. Now imagine a military dictatorship inspired by Japanese racial, religious, and cultural supremacy. Muslims would not be well under the Japanese Empire
 
Look at how modern, democratic Japan treats Muslims. Now imagine a military dictatorship inspired by Japanese racial, religious, and cultural supremacy. Muslims would not be well under the Japanese Empire

Reminder that during WWII they used a lot of Indonesians as forced labour (Romusha), of which a lot of them were Muslim...
Now OTL I think they were more favourable towards the Muslim Malays in Malaya compared to say, the Chinese due to the latter being more against them...
But that doesn't mean they weren't treated like crap either...
 
Taking over Indonesia is a direct act of aggression though. It isn't Japan's to take, and I don't see how they wouldn't get a war declaration on them as a result. And even then, why would they let so many Indonesians into Japan proper? Even if they did, I doubt they'd have more than OTL there, and thus not many more Muslims than OTL. Sure, it could radicalise Indonesia, but these Indonesian radicals would mostly be attacking other Indonesians and wouldn't so much be attacking Japan. Like ATL's Hui, it would be seen as an anti-colonial/anti-imperialist struggle as much as it is a religious fundamentalist issue.

As for Japan engaging in Middle Eastern wars, Japan still won't have many Muslims to commit terrorist attacks, and I doubt Imperial Japan would be any more open to immigration than OTL Japan (and if they were, like modern Japan, they'd seek immigrants from non-Muslim countries like Vietnam, etc.). The US has had fewer Islamist terrorist attacks, probably in part because European countries have more Muslims and thus a bigger base to radicalise. While a Japanese "9/11" or some other event is possible, I wouldn't rate it too high on the plausibility scale (9/11 as it was borders ASB luck). Islamists already hate Japan--ISIS killed that one journalist, the Japanese translator of the Satanic Verses was murdered by an Islamist student, and they hate Japan's culture. Attacking Japan, hurting their economy and killing their people, would make sense, but they've never really bothered. I don't see why this would be too different in some ATL. ATL Japanese influence in the Middle East is already throwing a big wrench into things, but I don't see why this Japan would necessarily be too friendly with the US (at least not much more than China is, since Japan and the US are competing over the Pacific and all), plus Japan has Sakhalin/Karafuto's oil, plus they get a lot of Manchukuo/China's oil, and they have investment in their own indigenous oil, and they likely are even more nuclear than OTL (the anti-nuclear movement could be more or less "vanished").
I agree that even if the empire still existed Japan would greatly restrict who comes to the home islands. This could also extend into Taiwan and maybe Korea. But Islamic terrorist attacks don’t have to take place there. It could be against military targets, tourist, occupied countries, or puppets. Maybe Muslims in China drift more into extremism as the decades and Japan keeps the place as divided up client or puppet states. In Indonesia I could see Japan banning or prohibiting certain Islamic laws or customs which causes issues. They might also support regimes in Burma and Thailand that target Muslim groups which might bring in support from extremist groups who do stuff internationally. Even if it’s a more nationalist group they might still accept support from some group like Al Qaeda if offered. Saudi might also send support to these groups and Islamic extremist fighter secretly depending on their relationship with Japan. I would imagine even with the oil places you listed they would still import a lot. China and Japan consume a lot of oil right now. Regarding US and Japan in Middle East maybe they become similar to how Britain and America work together in the Middle East but on a bigger scale. Furthermore on the off chance this happens somehow, I imagine Japanese soldiers in Islamic holy lands like Saudi would be taken much more worse by extremist then American ones. Extremist would view a Christian better then a straight up “heathen”.
 
I mean this question is very dependant upon what the Japanese Empire looks like as a modern state.
I imagine a surviving Japanese Empire would develop some similar trends to modern Japan. I think the home islands economy and living standards will be similar. Korea and Taiwan being close to those standards. Japanese in colonies and puppets would also being living like that. Maybe small parts of China too but the majority of people in Japan other puppets and areas live in bad conditions. Most of China is just a resource of cheap labor, raw resources, unskilled jobs, and sweat shop industry. Japan having switched to high skilled and high tech industries in the homeland and Korea. The population would be younger and more athletic. There would be more Japanese in raw numbers. Military still is a major part of society. Social and individual life for Japanese people and a lesser extent Koreans is similar to now. The government leaves them to their vices if they respect some military service requirements and don’t act against the government in action. Non Japanese are usually not given these same rights and benefits. Media and entertainment is similar. Japanese entertainment is less self critical of themselves compared to many western nations. Some animes even now have many nationalist or right wing undertones. I think this is why entertainment is will require less to no censorship on the government behalf. I think America will eventually tie themselves a bit economically to Japan which still leads to elements of American culture and capitalism rubbing off on them. Emperor still holds a lot of power and actually gets control of the military once the country goes back into peace time during the 40s
 
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