Tokyo’s Otsuka Masjid helps people in need during Ramadan

Volunteers help prepare iftar meals to distribute to people facing economic difficulties, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. (ANJ Pierre Boutier)

• The imam of the mosque told Arab News Japan that more than 500 meals were distributed, which confirms an increase in Japanese people who are now facing economic difficulties

TOKYO: Japanese, Palestinians, Pakistanis, Indians, and Sri Lankan Muslim volunteers, gathered in Tokyo’s Otsuka Mosque to prepare free iftar meals for hundreds of Japanese who have been impacted by economic difficulties.
Within hours Biryani, a chicken and rice dish, prepared by Indian and Pakistani cooks, was packed into containers ready for distribution in an Ikebukuro park.
Around 5:40 p.m., volunteers started to hand out the packed meals at a fast coordinated pace to the long queue of people seeking food or survival advice from associations present in the park.
Within just 30 minutes, the packed meals had been distributed.
Saer Farouk, a Pakistani who oversees the distribution, takes the time to slip a few words of politeness and attention to the homeless people as he hands them a meal.
According to a Keio architecture student, who has helped distribute food several times, many Japanese have been appealing for food aid since the COVID crisis.
The imam of the mosque told Arab News Japan that more than 500 meals were distributed, which confirms an increase in Japanese people who are now facing economic difficulties.
“In this month of Ramadan, Muslims must show their charitable spirit towards the most deprived. Fasting accentuates this spirit of empathy.”
Yo Nonaka, a specialist in Islamic studies at Keio University and associate professor of policy management, says that she wants to sensitize her mostly non-Muslim students in the spirit of fraternity. “Thanks to the open mind of Muslims, preconceptions will disappear.”
One of her sociology students expressed a wish “to take some actions to eradicate poverty in Japan.”