I had a very long trip coming to Japan three months ago, with my husband. From Amman we had to transit at Istanbul. The security officer was saying:"Jacket, Jacket" while making gestures to me in order to take off what she thought was a long Jacket, which is actually my Jilbab. This happened at the checkpoint of the Turkish Airport. When I told her I can't take it off, she gazed at me strongly and took me aside to check me alone. A very embarrassing situation for a Muslim girl infront of strangers! Especially the way she treated me before, while and after the checking.
I tried to ease it up. I started telling myself: "Calm down calm down, don't be upset it's ok.. She is an employee, she has to do that for safety reasons.. BUT.. Can't she act more gently? Especially that Turkey is a MUSLIM country and they are used to see Muslim women!"
Hours passed before we arrive to the Airport of Japan (Narita). My husband assured me that I will receive a better treatment there. He even stressed the fact that I will be amazed from how organized and gentle procedures go in Japan. Here we are at Narita. Few minutes and it's my turn to be checked AGAIN! The previous experience of checking made me kind of stressed this time and that bothering feeling came up to me again. Are they going to do the same thing! Please God help me.
Here we are, my turn. I stepped into the checking point and kept walking........ HUH??!! Huh?!!!! We're finished?? I looked at the employee to make sure if it is ok for me to keep walking, she looked at me and gave me a WIDE smile followed by a "DOUZO"!!!
What a relief!!!!!!
Great Treatment! My husband was right!
Japan, thank you for respecting me the way I am.
This gave me an optimistic impression on living in Japan as a Muslim female.
Now my new life has started.. "BISMELLAH"....
Friday, 20 June 2008
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14 comments:
I really affected by your post,
Turkey is a Muslim country! haven't they seen a jilbab before?!
i also was very surprised when i knew that hijab is forbidden in Tunisia.
How do we want from the others to respect us if we don't respect our culture. That's really shameful.
Anyway, Alhamdulellah 3la assalama.
forget to introduce myself!
I'm Hasna, or "momiji"
happy to be the first one to comment on your post.＾＾
次のポストをお楽しみにしています！＾＾
el hamdulillah ala essalameh! i hope you like it in Japan and looking forward to reading more of your posts! Mabrouk on the marriage and wish you a lot of happiness, forever, together!
الحمد لله على السلامة ^^
Really it's sad to have this treatment in countries supposed to be called "Muslim countries" .. even Tunisia or Turkey or ... .
And .. good to hear about the nice treatment in Japan .. I like their way of respecting others ^^
This is very painful.
Trying so hard to catch up with Europe and become "modern", Turkey (and Tunisia) missed the most important thing in western culture: freedom to think and do what you want.
Disgraceful.
Very nice ending for the beginning! بالتوفيق ان شاء الله
Thanks everybody for your welcoming.. am happy to share my thoughts with you..
momiji san or sister Hasna,
Yes you are right it's really shameful! when our own people insult our beliefs, how do we expect others to respect us!
Summer san,
Thank you for passing by, allah ysalmek.. actually i really like Japan it's quite amazing here! Knowing a totally different culture is so much fun and very useful..
bira~ru san,
Yes they really respect others' cultures. Actually they look at me kind of surprised especially at the residential places but they really don't give me any hurtful comments or looks. On the contrary they smile widely in my face.
Saemon san,
Yes you are right most of them took the bad qualities and forgot the good ones so they lost their unique identity and are never even following up!!
youkoso, nihon e!
blue rose san ni nihon de aeru koto ga ureshii desu.
please enjoy japan from your point of view. i know, you also have very sharp eyes.
my impression of you from the beginning until the last moment we met was that you were not only very beautiful but also very very smart,gentil and shin no tsuyoi jyosei!
natsu, watashi wa nihon e kaerimasu.
aimashou ne!!!
K-s
K-sensei!!! i really miss you and am looking forward to meeting you here in NIHON!!! I always remember what you used to say and it helps through my daily life here.
I wish to have a small part of all the things you said about me..
Am enjoying my time so much and am learning so many stuff.. everything in Japan is unique and it teaches me alot..
nihon ga suki desu, hontou ni.
Blue Rose san!:)
Very interesting post! It reminded me of last year's trip, where we had to pass through France.
The check procedures we had in France were the worst ever!>< On the other hand, when we finally arrived to Narita,,things were totally different :)
Wish you the best of luck and looking forward for the coming posts.
kanji-chan konnichi wa!!
I can imagine how hard the procedures are in France (u_u) thank god you arrived peacefully..
Hope we meet very soon..
please stop your whining, if you want respect from other cultures dont go to thier country wearing your terrorist outfit, ALL muslims are terrorists
Ofcourse anonymous san is posting from USA.
No Muslim country is invading any other country.
I think these words answer ur accusations.
Anonymous san, you can not just judge people without even having a clue about Islam and Muslims, Please before spreading your thoughts, read more!
Respecting other people's culture is the base of human relations, and it starts by respecting them the way they are.
That's common situation in "said muslim countires"
For example in country Kazakhstan situation is not different
Most then the half os the population if you ask them about their religion they will say that Islam. But that's only tradition and donno about Islam anything
And like in your situation in airport, can't understand such kind of woman,I could see similar situations a lot.
I can remember the situations when we were treated the same, just asking for the place to pray
Zhanna
As-salamun alaikum,
I'm from Turkey and felt bad when I read this post. I just want to clarify some points:
1. Turkey is not a muslim country even if it has 90% muslim population. You shouldn't expect similar actions to those in other muslim countries. Don't get me wrong, there are many good and kind muslim turks. You just got a bad one.
2. Security rules are usually different when you arrive and leave. If you go Turkey and exit from airport you will get same treatment as you get here in Japan. No one will ask you to take of your outfit.
3. If you go to US, you will be asked to take of your jacket at every check point and sometimes even that's not enough because someone gets suspicious about you. If I were you I wouldn't feel that bad for being checked by a muslim women even if not by a good one.
Sorry for this long post.
Take care.
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