Anti-foreign incidents near University of Fukui, Japan

Kyodo News recently reported two anti-foreign incidents in Fukui City. One incident on 20 October was a possible case of arson of a parked car in front of the small mosque near the western boundary of the campus of University of Fukui (Bunkyo Campus). There was a sign posted near the burnt car that read, "Foreigners get out".

The other incident, which happened in September, was the burning of an Indian flag at an Indian restaurant near the Fukui University of Technology (about 1.5 km west of University of Fukui), with a similar "Foreigners get out" message posted.

Such incidents are remarkable because there are not really very many foreigners living in Fukui or even staying here for a short time, such as tourism. It does make sense, though, that foreigners would be noticed in and around the university campuses. While there are a number of international students at the universities in th city (University of Fukui, Fukui University of Technology), most of these students are from China.

Only a very small number of the international students are from Islamic countries or countries with Islamic populations, such as UAE, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. However, many of these students and researchers have come to Fukui with other members of their family, so there is enough to sustain a community of worshippers having a mosque.

Links to the stories in English are here:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/foreign-people-get-out-sign-on-mosque-as-car-torched-in-parking-lot

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/nn20101022b1.html


Link to the website of the Fukui Mosque is here:

http://fukui-masjid.blogspot.com/2009/10/about-us.html

A photo of the Fukui Mosque where the car-burning incident occurred: