KYODO — A decision by a city near Tokyo to bar a mosque from holding a longstanding outdoor prayer session in one of its parks has triggered debate over multicultural coexistence in Japan, with questions raised over whether officials had sufficient grounds for the move.
The dispute began in May when a mosque in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, was denied permission to hold a group prayer in the public park, located in a residential neighbourhood, during a festival that had been held there for years there with city approval.
