I never thought of Japan as a multicultural society and rightly so, since an array of different nationalities is indeed hard to come by. Having said that I was amazed by the number of Pakistanis I came across during my sojourn here. It got me thinking why this country attracted so many Pakistanis? In fact in 2008 alone Japan hosted a whopping 8,250 Pakistanis spread over three major regions and the number of immigrants has been on the rise since.

I really was living in a bubble until I realised that there are many individuals who happen to be half Pakistani and half Japanese such as myself. I’d like to think of myself as a proponent of interracial marriages because I feel it gives a relationship the chance to offer so much more than the ordinary. Spouses from different races can learn a lot from each other’s culture, country, family ties and societal values in general.

However, as I delved into my own little research I was dismayed by the number of Pakistani men who enter holy matrimony with Japanese women just for the sake of legalising their stay in Japan. How many would agree that this is a classic example of exploitation? They don’t care about engendering a strong union with their Japanese counterparts, on the contrary their marriage is just a piece of paper, their little ticket to continue staying in Japan and avoiding the shame of deportation. These are not just baseless claims but the grim reality I discovered after hearing about cases of so many abused Japanese wives victimised at the hands of their Pakistani husbands. This segment of Pakistanis residing in Japan chose to live as vagabonds.

Then, there is the prevalence of the ‘other’ segment, the ‘refined’ segment of Pakistanis who value and respect their foreign wives just as they would respect any other woman. They take the time out to help their wives and come to terms with the Pakistani culture all the while representing their country in the highest esteem. Mostly, these Pakistanis are self employed businessman who arrived here in the late 1970s and over the years gained social and economic autonomy encouraging other Pakistanis to transcend from their occupational status as factory workers.

Today as I travel the country I feel as though there are more Pakistanis than any other nationality in Japan (although statistically Chinese and Korean form the major diasporas) many of whom have taken a keen interest in up keeping the traditions of Islam conscientiously. There are now more than 300 mosques in Japan and many of them have been constructed under the generous auspices of Pakistani residents.

I have even witnessed young Japanese women going to the mosque with their children and this revolutionary change can be accounted for by those Muslim nationalities, primarily Pakistanis who took the initiative to introduce a religion that not so many years ago was novel in this fast paced country.

Unfortunately, a significant number of Pakistanis are bent on tarnishing the image of their own country with their vile and corrupt ways, and the fact that so many still reside illegally doesn’t help matters. It is because of people like them that Pakistan’s representation is hugely jeopardised. Due to their actions, any good done by other concerned parties is driven into a state of oblivion. True, they may not be able to integrate fully but they can at least display the bare minimum moral values? Every society has its own way of life and immigrants have no choice but to adapt to it so no one has a reason to complain. I can only hope that Pakistani immigrants residing in Japan are able to attain acclaim as opposed to notoriety.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.