As part of its preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Japan is actively preparing various facilities to welcome international guests from all over the world. One of them is a prayer room at Kansai International Airport, Osaka.
There are three prayer rooms at Kansai International Airport, Osaka. Two of them are located inside, after check point for international flights (north and south wings), and the last room is situated before the entrance gate to departure or arrival, on 3rd floor of Terminal 1, on the same floor with shops and restaurants area.
The prayer rooms at Kansai International Airport, Osaka are not limited to a particular religion, as people with different faiths can use the prayer rooms. Interestingly, it provides ablution (wudhu) area for Muslemsl. This facility is very significant as it is usually main issue for them who should pray in public area in Japan.
The space for male and female is separated so everyone can feel comfortable and solemnly pray. Also there are some prayer equipment such as qibla direction, veil (mukena) and prayer mat (sajadah) in the female room.
As with other public facilities in Japan, these rooms are really clean and well-maintained. They are quite similar with many prayer rooms at malls in Indonesia.
Actually, the prayer room at Kansai International Airport has already been there since a few years ago, but there was only one room without ablution facility. As many overseas tourists start to come here, to the country known for its cherry blossoms, Japan is making a big effort to demonstrate hospitality to people of various backgrounds and faiths.
The location of prayer room can be seen on the website for Kansai International Airport. The easiest way to find it is to look for Uniqlo Department Store. There are signs and directions next to the store pointing to the location of prayer room in a similar way to the signs pointing to the lounge of Korean Air.
All in all, don't worry about finding a prayer place while visiting Japan. There are helpful facilities here!
