Street Fighter Multiculturalism: Legibility and Muslim experiences in Japan

Abstract

Many scholars examine the importance of ethnicity in migrants’ lives in Japan. Yet the role of religion is less well understood. The Asia-Pacific region is home to almost two-thirds of the world’s Muslims. Three hundred thousand Muslims are estimated to live in Japan. As religious and ethnic outsiders, Muslims navigate multiple social boundaries in Japan. Despite multicultural policies, migrants often contend with ethnic stereotypes. Some Muslim individuals and groups leverage these stereotypes to increase legibility to Japanese citizens and allay concerns about Islam. Drawing on 10 months of fieldwork centered in Shizuoka, I introduce and operationalize the idea of street fighter multiculturalism (SFM), which relies on mediated images that reinforce people from particular countries “ought to look” and “ought to act” in “typical” ways. SFM has the potential to ease interactions between Muslim groups and Japanese audiences. However, it also reinforces unwanted monolithic images of Muslims and Islam.