Turks in Japan
Ethnic group in Japan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Turks in Japan (Japanese: 在日トルコ人（ざいにちトルコじん）; Turkish: Japonya Türkleri) are Turks living in Japan. Historically, the term has included Turkic (particularly Volga Tatar) émigrés and immigrants from former Russian Empire, most of whom later acquired Turkish citizenship.
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 6,464 (in December, 2023)[1][2] | |
| Languages | |
| Turkish · Japanese | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Sunni Islam Minority Alevism, Other religions, or Irreligious | |
Population figure given is for citizens of Turkey living in Japan. The Turkish Embassy gives a lower figure of 2,264 (2006); however, this counts only citizens who have voluntarily registered at the embassy.[3] |
History
Summarize
Perspective
In the early 20th century, groups of Tatars immigrated from Kazan, Russia, to Japan.[4] The community became led by the Bashkir émigré imam Muhammed-Gabdulkhay Kurbangaliev, who had fought on the side of the White movement in the Russian Civil War and arrived in Japan in 1924; he then set up an organisation[fn 1] to bring together the Tatars living in Tokyo.[4] Tatars in Japan founded their first mosque and school in 1935 in Kobe and another in Tokyo in 1938, with support from Kurbangaliev's organisation.[4][5] Another Tatar organisation, the Mohammedan Printing Office in Tokyo,[fn 2] printed the first Qur'an in Japan as well as a Tatar language magazine in Arabic script, the Japan Intelligencer;[fn 3] it continued publication until the 1940s.[4] Most of the Tatars emigrated after World War II.[4] Those remaining took up Turkish citizenship in the 1950s.[3] But there are 600-2,000 Tatars in Japan.[6] They are almost mixed.[7]
Though the Turkish community has diminished in size, those remaining founded the Tokyo Camii and Turkish Cultural Center in 2000.[4][8] In the following decade, there was a new wave of migration from Turkey, mostly consisting of people from the Fatsa area.[9]
Some Turkish citizens in Japan are ethnic Kurds.[10]
In 2015, a clash took place outside the Turkish embassy in Tokyo between Kurds and Turks, it was claimed that this began when Turks and Kurds got into a quarrel after a Kurdish party flag was shown at the embassy.[11]
Prominent Turks (Volga Tatars) in Japan
- Osman Yusuf (A.K.A. Johnny Yuseph, 1920 - 1982): Actor
- Abdul Hannan Safa (A.K.A. Roy James, 1929 - 1982): Actor, naturalised in 1971
- Ömer Yusuf (A.K.A. Yusef Toruko ("Yusuf the Turk"), 1930 - 2013): Puroresu referee and actor, brother of Osman Yusuf
Gallery
Memorial to the Turkish victims of the sunken ship in Japan
Tokyo Mosque with Turkish Culture Center was re-built by Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs in 2000
See also
Footnotes
References
Further reading
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