Why This Topic Landed in Japan

A mosque was built without application or permit on privately owned land in Kawagoe, Saitama. When the Pakistani-run company that owns the land told the Sankei Shimbun that the building "was already there" and that they "want to remove it but lack the money," the response was read as contempt for Japanese rules. Kawagoe City has publicly stated the structure was built without permission and that it is issuing corrective guidance with eventual removal as the goal. The story fused with ongoing debates over burial customs, Kurdish-community tensions, and multicultural coexistence, giving many commenters a strong sense of personal stake.

Key Reaction Themes

  • Hardline enforcement — Overwhelming calls for immediate administrative demolition, visa revocation, and deportation rather than negotiation.
  • A sense of being disrespected — The core of the anger is the fear that "if you just stall, Japanese people will let it slide."
  • Tension with religious freedom — A notable minority separated the issue: not the mosque itself, but the unpermitted, illegal procedure, is the problem ("churches and mosques are both fine").

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

  • "Administrative demolition is the only answer. We're being completely disrespected. Building on land where construction is banned and then saying you have no money is absurd."
  • "Shut down the company, cut off their funding, revoke their visas, deport them."
  • "Then seize it. Recover the shortfall from that Pakistani-run company by any means, and ban them from re-entry."
  • "This is the classic case of Japanese people being taken lightly because stalling works. They say they can't afford to remove the mosque while planning to encroach on Japan. Look at Britain."
  • "They had money to build the mosque. Wasn't it built with donations from Muslims? Then tear it down with money collected the same way."
  • "On this kind of thing, maybe we should learn from South Korea."
  • "Sure, if you'll let us build plenty of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in the Middle East."
  • "Then go build one. Japan has freedom of religion, so there's no problem building a mosque here — in principle."
  • "Honestly, coexistence is hard. We grew up differently, so our 'common sense' differs. For them the absolute is scripture; for us the absolute is the law."
  • "There are churches too, so a mosque is fine."
  • "Muslims who actually follow the Quran are harmless. The ones causing trouble twist its interpretation."
  • "Use administrative enforcement and tear it down tomorrow."
  • "Isn't this freedom of religion?"
  • "Before it ends in an arson attack or a truck ramming, Muslims in Japan should learn to cooperate."
  • "It probably has toilets, so if they hooked it up to the water and sewage lines without permission, the city won't let that slide."