INTRODUCTION

All praises to Allah with his bounties as we can implement this assignment that has been
given by our Islamic Finance subject lecturer, Madam Farihana. First of all, we would like to
hint highest gratitude to her as she guided us throughout this task. More than that, thanks to
our parents, family members and friends who gave us support and guidance in completing it.
Eventually, we would thank all the members who gave the cooperation.
OBJECTIVES
For the main purposes of this assignment, the focus will be on to understand the history of
Islamic financial system in one particular country. Moreover, to be able to see the changes
and the development of Islamic financial system in that particular country from the early
establishment

period

of

Islamic

financial

institutions

up

to

current

date.

WHY JAPAN?
Japan is a country that has totally extraordinary lifestyle yet still fascinating. There are a lot
more about Japan instead of sushi, haiku and sumo. From the rich culture, extremely
advanced technology, the harmonious society, Japan is indeed one of the astonishing place in
the world. However, Japan is not a country that would immediately come to mind when
someone thinks about Muslims or the Islamic world. Japanese are often generalized by most

of people such as homogenous people one nation, one civilization, one language, one
culture, and one race.
For most people, it seems that little or nothing would really connect the very ideas of
"Japan" and "Islam. As a result, this is the main reason why our group chose Japan as this
country piqued our curiosity on how does the Japanese, who are often stereotyped by most
people blended with Muslims and finally accept the Islamic banking systems.
In fact, there are actually many links between Japan and the Islamic world. In recent
years a growing number of young scholars around the world have been studying the
Japanese-Muslim relationship, and the field appears to be blooming. Although it is quite
complex to know the exact number of Muslims in Japan as the Japanese government does not
keep any statistics on the number of Muslims in their country. But what is certain is that
Islam is a minority religion in Japan.
1

In the absence of official statistics on Muslims in Japan, demographic estimates

range from between 70,000 to 120,000 Muslim residents with about 10 percent of that
number being Japanese. The majority of estimates of the Muslim population in Japan are
around 100,000. According to some sources, there were 30,000 Muslims in Japan in early
1980s.
Over the past years until now, the number of ground-level realities of Muslims who
live in contemporary Japanese society has been increasing steadily. Therefore, it is a need for
us to be informed on how the practices of Islamic financial institutions in Japan differ from
other countries.
OUTLINE
To sum up, this assignment will elaborate and discuss the historical background of Islamic &
development of Islamic banking and finance which takes place in Japan. Next, we will then
go on the specific Islamic banking and finance establishments, as well as its development
throughout the years. And the final part of the assignment is to share some piece of mind
regarding the acceptance of the Islamic Finance in Japan.

1 Islam in Japan: Adversity and Diversity by Michael Penn