Turks in Japan (; ) are

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

living in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Historically, the term has included Turkic (particularly Volga Tatar)

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Hugueno ...

s and immigrants from former

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, most of whom later acquired

Turkish citizenship Turkish nationality law is based primarily on the principle of ''jus sanguinis''. Children who are born to a Turkish mother or a Turkish father (in or out of marriage) are Turkish citizens from birth. The intention to renounce Turkish citizen ...

History

In the early 20th century, groups of Tatars immigrated from

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, to

. The community became led by the Bashkir émigré

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

Muhammed-Gabdulkhay Kurbangaliev, who had fought on the side of the

White movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...

in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

and arrived in Japan in 1924; he then set up an organisation to bring together the Tatars living in Tokyo. Tatars in Japan founded their first

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

and school in 1935 in

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

and another in Tokyo in 1938, with support from Kurbangaliev's organisation. Another Tatar organisation, the Mohammedan Printing Office in Tokyo, printed the first

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

in Japan as well as a

Tatar language Tatar ( ; or ) is a Turkic languages, Turkic language spoken by the Volga Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan (European Russia), as well as Siberia. It should not be confused with Crimean Tatar language, Crimean Tatar or Siberian Tatar ...

magazine in

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...

, the ''Japan Intelligencer''; it continued publication until the 1940s. Most of the Tatars emigrated after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Those remaining took up Turkish citizenship in the 1950s. But there are 600-2,000 Tatars in Japan. They are almost mixed. Though the Turkish community has diminished in size, those remaining founded the Tokyo Camii and Turkish Cultural Center in 2000. In the following decade, there was a new wave of migration from Turkey, mostly consisting of people from the

Fatsa Fatsa is a municipality and district of Ordu Province, Turkey. Its area is 363 km2, and its population is 126,775 (2022). It lies on the Black Sea coast. Name The oldest recorded name of the town is Polemonion (, Latinized as Polemonium), af ...

area. Some Turkish citizens in Japan are ethnic Kurds. In 2015, a clash took place outside the Turkish embassy in Tokyo between Kurds and Turks, it was claimed that this began when Turks and Kurds got into a quarrel after a Kurdish party flag was shown at the embassy.

Prominent Turks (Volga Tatars) in Japan

* Osman Yusuf (A.K.A. Johnny Yuseph, 1920 - 1982): Actor * Abdul Hannan Safa (A.K.A. Roy James, 1929 - 1982): Actor,

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

in 1971 * Ömer Yusuf (A.K.A. Yusef Toruko ("Yusuf the Turk"), 1930 - 2013):

Puroresu is a Japanese term used for professional wrestling in Japan, professional wrestling in and outside of Japan. The term comes from the Gairaigo, Japanese pronunciation of , which in Japanese is abbreviated to “puro” ( - “pro”) & “resu” ...

referee and actor, brother of Osman Yusuf

Gallery

File:Kushimoto-toruko-ireihi1.jpg, Memorial to the Turkish victims of the

sunken ship A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

in Japan File:Kobe mosque01 2816.jpg, Kobe Mosque File:Tokyo_Camii_2009.jpg, Tokyo Mosque with Turkish Culture Center was re-built by Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs in 2000

History

Prominent Turks (Volga Tatars) in Japan

Gallery

See also

Footnotes

References

Further reading