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Japan immigration

Muslims struggle to bury their dead in Japan, a nation of cremation

Interment is rare and often meets opposition from local residents

Zafar Saeed, a Muslim from Pakistan who has acquired Japanese citizenship, visits the grave of his eldest son, lost in a miscarriage, in Beppu, Oita Prefecture.

FUKUOKA, Japan -- Muslims living in Japan have a hard time trying to find land for burials in a country where interment is rare and faces a cultural barrier.

It is a big challenge to secure burial ground in a country where virtually all of the deceased are cremated and few areas have any places for interment. This poses a serious problem for Muslims because cremation is forbidden in Islam.

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