Department stores, malls in Japan set up prayer rooms as Muslim visitors increase

Department stores and shopping malls in Japan are increasingly setting up prayer rooms to meet the need for Muslims amid a growing number of visitors from Islamic countries on the back of a weak yen.

At the Matsuya Ginza department store in Tokyo's upscale shopping district, a number of people lined up in front of a room designated as a "prayer room" at certain times of the day.

The room is equipped with a foot-washing area for cleansing parts of the body before worship and has mats for several people to offer prayers.

A Malaysian woman in her 30s said she had searched for a prayer room online before arriving in Japan, saying she was thankful as it is difficult to find one in the middle of the metropolitan area.

Muslims typically pray five times a day, though some reduce the frequency to three times while on a trip, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. Their activities would be limited if they could not find a prayer room and had to return to their accommodation.

"Prayer rooms are necessary infrastructure similar to bathrooms and nursing rooms," said a retail industry official, adding that people in the industry need to cooperate to install such rooms.

Among other department stores in Tokyo, Shibuya Parco in the Shibuya shopping district has opened a worship room.

Aeon Mall Co, which operates large-scale shopping complexes, has installed prayer rooms in seven outlets across Chiba, Kanagawa, Aichi, Hiroshima and Okinawa prefectures, with plans to expand the service to other stores.

The number of visitors to Japan from Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey surpassed 870,000 in 2023, up 2.7-fold from a decade ago, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.