Those lessons shaped me. They showed me how culture can be preserved through faith, community, and infrastructure — lessons I believe are vital for Muslims in Japan today.

I also spent years as a professional wadaiko player, which gave me firsthand insight into Japan’s traditional arts, their fragility, and their urgent need for renewal. That experience, combined with my work now as the founder of Thrive in Japan — a language and culture school that helps foreigners integrate and flourish — has taught me how difficult, yet how necessary, cultural adaptation can be.

I am also a husband, a father of two, and a Muslim revert. My wife is Japanese, also a revert, and deeply active in Da’wah. She has taken up the pillar of Cultivate, pouring her energy into raising our children and creating a world where they can grow up proud to be both Japanese and Muslim. Together, we invest in building community around our family — finding friends, connecting with teachers, and supporting other Muslim families in Japan.

I am not an Islamic scholar. I am still learning, just as my family is learning. But what I bring is a lifetime of cross-cultural experience, a deep concern for preserving both Japanese culture and Islam in Japan, and a belief that communities thrive when we build together.

The Muslim Minority is not “my project.” It is a vision we believe in — a vision rooted in faith, culture, and reason. By sharing my story, I hope others who resonate with this mission will join in, bring their own strengths, and help shape a future worthy of Japan, worthy of Islam, and worthy of our children.