The Mobile Mosque is fully equipped, with Arabic signage and outdoor water taps for wudhu, or ablution before prayer. When expanded, the truck can fit up to 50 worshippers at the time.
The Mobile Mosque is fully equipped, with Arabic signage and outdoor water taps for wudhu, or ablution before prayer. When expanded, the truck can fit up to 50 worshippers at the time.
As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics begin to take shape, a new initiative has sprung up that might make the lives of the Muslim athletes that will be flying into Japan for the summer just a little bit easier. Organized by the Yasu Project, the Mobile Mosque was created, a 48-square meter prayer room that opens up on the back of a parked truck.
The Mobile Mosque is fully equipped, with Arabic signage and outdoor water taps for wudhu, or ablution before prayer. When expanded, the truck can fit up to 50 worshippers at the time. Yasuharu Inoue, the CEO of Yasu Project, hopes his project will both make it easier for the thousands of Muslims planning on attending, as well as help bring awareness to the general public that the Olympics is about total inclusivity:
I want athletes to compete with their utmost motivation and for the audience to cheer on with their utmost motivation as well. That is why I made this…I hope it brings awareness that there are many different people in this world and to promote a nondiscriminatory, peaceful Olympics and Paralympics.”
According to Waseda University, there are around 105 mosques in total in Japan, however many are small and far away from major city centers. As the Tokyo Olympics draw nearer, organizations like the Yasu Project have seen the importance in accommodating for the needs and comfort of the many Muslims who will flock to Japan for Tokyo 2020. Tokyo 2020 has stated that “the Organizing Committee is preparing a list of religious or faiths centers that could be contacted or visited if requested by residents of the Villages during the Games”.
Japan has long been a homogeneous society, with major acceptance and acknowledgement of Islam and of Muslims only recently gaining traction. As the Olympics will draw in an estimated 11,000 athletes representing 206 nations, Tokyo, along with the rest of Japan, will host a wide variety of different people from numerous different religious backgrounds in what will hopefully be a celebration and opening up of the diversity of the world.
