Misinformation surrounding Japan’s growing anti-immigration stance has spread across the region, with the latest instance being an AI-generated video of Muslims supposedly praying onboard a crowded Japanese train that surfaced in South Korean posts. Experts said the supposed worship scene is inconsistent with authentic Islamic prayer practices.<\/p>\n
“The recent scene of Muslims on a Japanese subway train,” reads a Korean-language post<\/a> shared on Bobaedream, a local online forum, on April 1.<\/p>\n The post contains a clip of a group of men, mostly dressed in long tunics and skullcaps, performing what appears to be a Muslim prayer inside a moving subway train. They are closely surrounded by passengers seated on both sides of the carriage.<\/p>\n Two of the men kneel on the floor, bowing their heads deeply on a small mat placed in front of them, their heads nearly touching the knees of the passengers in front of them. Another bends forward at the waist while standing, and a fourth remains upright with his eyes closed.<\/p>\n Screenshot of the false post, taken April 16, 2026, with AI label and red X added by AFP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Anti-immigration<\/a> sentiment has grown in Japan, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi coming to power on a promise to tighten rules for foreigners, while the far-right “Japanese first” Sanseito party also made gains<\/a> in recent elections (archived links here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Misinformation surrounding Muslim-friendly policies have also seen some local Japanese governments become inundated by complaints — such as when a tourism campaign<\/a> to attract Muslim travellers to Aichi prefecture was misrepresented as an immigration policy (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n Complaints<\/a> were also made in Japan’s Kitakyushu city after inaccurate claims that it planned Muslim-friendly school lunches (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The posts about Muslims praying on a Japanese subway train spread<\/a> in South Korea<\/a>, where anti-Muslim sentiment has grown in some online spaces particularly among conservative evangelical church groups.<\/p>\n In one case in 2023, local residents staged\u00a0months-long protests<\/a> against a construction of a mosque for Muslim students in the city of Daegu, with some opponents calling the students “terrorists” and organising pork barbecues near the site (archived link).<\/a><\/p>\n The video was also shared in multiple languages, including Chinese<\/a>, Japanese<\/a>, English<\/a>, and Italian.<\/a><\/p>\n Comments indicate some users believe the claim.<\/p>\n “Muslims never just come. They always take over!” said one.<\/p>\n “Go back to your country! This is Japan!!” another wrote.<\/p>\n But the video is AI-generated and experts said the prayers shown in the clip are inconsistent with actual Muslim practices.<\/p>\n An analysis of the clip found visual errors, such as parts of the subway handles and the overhead compartment vanishing and re-appearing.<\/p>\n Screenshot of the false post, with visual errors highlighted by AFP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n A passenger appears to be fused with the seat rails, creating a distorted overlap, while others appear to be seated in parts where no seats normally exist, for example, directly in front of a door.<\/p>\n An image of an advertisement also appears to be blurred and oddly-shaped.<\/p>\n An analysis using the Hive Moderation<\/a> AI detection tool found the video is “likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content” (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\nVisual inconsistencies<\/h2>\n
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