A Swedish Tourist in Asakusa

Once in a while, this mosque we call home, receives guests other than the normal Jumu’ah congregation. Last Friday, it was Ertan, a Swedish with Kosovan Albanian origin, who has married a Swedish who’s half Japanese. He and his newlywed wife are in Japan to visit his wife relatives, staying in Tokyo and Osaka for about 2 weeks.



Hubby invited him to our home for tea and they had a long exchange on Muslims in both Japan and Sweden. Ertan used to work in a school and is worried about the future of Muslim children who are being sent to public schools. “They are being taught that their parents has no right to touch them, that they can always report to the agency involved if there’s so much as a tap at the back of their hand. I have seen a Muslim mother being sent to jail for 6 months because her child called the agency after she hit the child’s hand. That’s not right. Parents have the right to discipline their children, within reasons, so long as the children are not harmed.”

Yes, while it’s true that no child should be abused, parents should be allowed some space to use some measure of punishment, including hitting within reason, to discipline their children. I’ve seen destructive children creating havoc in other people’s houses and their parents never said anything just because they feel that their children must be given the freedom to do whatever they want to do in order not to disrupt their creativity. I guess, there must be balance in everything – while I support that children must be allowed some freedom to advance their creativity, it’s important too to instill respect for others, especially adults.

Since it was only Ertan’s second day in Tokyo, hubby asked if he would like to tour around Asakusa since we were thinking of going out anyway, we might as well be his tourist guide. Ertan was glad to hear that and so we went to Asakusa together after Asar, on bicycles (hubby gave Ertan a ride on the back of his bike until we reached Asakusa, which is illegal, but we hoped that we could get away with it and alhamdulillah we did)



After the normal sightseeing along Sumida river, Sensoji temple (oldest temple in Tokyo area?) and buying some souvenirs at some stalls along Nakamise street, we took him to a 100 yen shop, and my, did he had fun there. He bought a lot of daily stuff – house thermometers, drinking glasses, some candies, even torchlight, repeating again and again his amazement at how cheap everything was. Which reminded me of my own Mak and aunties buying lots of everyday stuff at 100 yen shop – bowls, knives, place mats - before they returned to Malaysia too.



Ertan, who bought a Tokyo Metro subway's one-day ticket, then followed hubby to Gyotoku, for his biweekly class for adult. They happened to meet Imam Salahuddin of Hira’ Mosque who was instructing a Quran class for some children. Imam Salahuddin, a Libyan, has been very kind and supportive towards hubby, sharing some Jumu’ah sermons in Arabic and asked hubby to feel free to contact him anytime we need to.



After Isyak, hubby brought Ertan to another 100 yen shop in Gyotoku. He had another shopping spree, but kept saying that his wife must’d been greatly worried by his late return. He bought some food – bread, soft drink, snacks - for his wife, while exclaiming his amazement at how cheap food is in the supermarket. But then again, food is a lot cheaper in Gyotoku than in Tokyo. And food is almost always a lot cheaper in the supa than the konbini…