OFFSTONE | JUNE 2021 | FKP USIM

42 BOOSTING CONFIDENCE OF JAPANESE MUSLIM YOUTH THROUGH INTERCULTURAL EXPOSURE By: Jamilah Samian & Dr Nur Kareelawati Abd Karim jamilah.samian@gmail.com The first author is a postgraduate student at the Faculty of Leadership and Management (FKP), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). The second author is an associate professor at the Communication Program, FKP, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM). She holds a Ph.D from University of Leeds, United Kingdom in media studies. ABSTRACT Japanese minority Muslim parents face great challenges in instilling the Muslim identity among their children due to peer influence and the environment. The intercultural approach whereby Japanese youth immerse themselves in a multicultural Muslim majority environment in which they observe and experience first-hand what it means to live as practising Muslims, offers an alternative. Introduction The development of a strong Muslim identity is a concern for minority Muslim parents around the world. In Japan particularly, the environment and peer influence are such that Muslim youth do not find the idea of being Muslim appealing to them in the long run. The growing Islamophobia has exacerbated the issue, as found by Ahmed and Matthes in 2016. A study done by Suleiman in 2017 showed that identity confusion might remain with children right up until adolescence and might even become more complex in adulthood. Increasingly, Japanese Muslim youth felt that choosing to live and behave as Muslims in the public sphere e.g., in school, might trigger other Japanese to treat them less positively, as reported by Mutiara in 2017. If nothing is done, there is a high risk that the Japanese Muslim youth will view Islam as a burden and a negative influence in their lives and will declare themselves as non-Muslims before or by the time they reach adulthood.