WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Japan doesn't allow Muslims to become citizens and bans the "propagation of Islam".
OUR VERDICT
False. Japan doesn't prohibit Muslims from becoming citizens and its constitution upholds the freedom of religious belief.
AAP FACTCHECK - A claim Japan bans Muslims from becoming citizens is among several false assertions made in a podcast.
There is no ban on Muslims becoming citizens and Muslim migrants have been naturalised in Japan.
The country's constitution also upholds the freedom of religion and there are no known national restrictions on Islam in the country.
Former Australian rules footballer Sam Newman made the claims in a recent episode of his podcast that he co-hosts with fellow former footballer, Wayne Carey.
Appearing to read from his phone, Newman states: "Japan is the only nation that does not give citizenship to Muslims.
"Permanent residency is not given to Muslims. This is in Japan. Propagation of Islam in Japan is banned.
"In the University of Japan, Arabic and Islamic language is not taught. Japan is the only country in the world with [a] negligible number of Muslims. One cannot import the Quran which is published in [the] Arabic language."
AAP FactCheck contacted Mr Newman's representatives for evidence to support the claim, but received no response.
A clip of him making the comments has been widely shared on social media, including Facebook and X.
The claims are false and almost exactly match a graphic that was previously debunked by Reuters.
The first claim that Japan is the only nation in the world that does not allow Muslims to become citizens is false.
The criteria for naturalisation, the process by which a foreigner becomes a Japanese citizen, don't include any restrictions based on religious belief, including Islam, according to the Ministry of Justice website.
Furthermore, there is ample evidence of Muslims being naturalised in Japan, including one migrant from Syria who has become a local politician after becoming a citizen in 2013, as reported by Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Timothy David Amos, an expert on minority groups in Japan at the University of Sydney, said there is no law that prevents Muslims from becoming citizens.
"Japan does not grant citizenship to large numbers of people but it certainly does not singularly discriminate against Muslims," Dr David Amos told AAP FactCheck.
Likewise, the claim that Japan bans Muslims from becoming permanent residents is inaccurate.
Muslims have become Japanese citizens and foreigners must first become permanent residents in order to be naturalised.
There are also no religious restrictions among the permanent residency criteria on the Japan Immigration Services Agency website.
The claim that the propagation of Islam is banned is also false, as Article 20 of Japan's Constitution explicitly prevents the state from doing so.
"Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all," it reads.
Muslim observance has grown in the country and stretches back to the 1890s, according to a 2023 research paper published by Japan's Waseda University (page 3).
There were more than 184,000 foreign Muslims in Japan in 2020 (p29), an increase from 109,000 estimated in 2005 (p22).
The total Muslim population was estimated at 230,000 in 2020, including 47,000 Japanese Muslims (p7).
Additionally, the paper found that dozens of mosques have been established across Japan in the past two decades (p49-55).
The total population of Muslims in Japan was estimated to be 350,000 in 2023, according to an academic survey reported by the Nikkei newswire.
The claim that the so-called 'University of Japan' doesn't teach Arabic is also wrong.
Firstly, there's no tertiary institution by that name in the country, and secondly, Japanese universities, such as the University of Osaka and the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), do teach Arabic.
The Koran in the Arabic language can be imported into the country, despite claims otherwise.
The religious text is not among the prohibited items listed on the Japan Customs website.
The only books that are prohibited are those that "may harm public safety or morals", which the customs website describes as "obscene or immoral materials e.g. pornography".
The Koran in Arabic is also sold on Amazon's Japanese website.
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