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IMAGINING JAPANESE AS A MUSLIM: THE NARRATIVE OF NON-OPPOSITIONAL RELATIONS BETWEEN JAPANESE CULTURE AND ISLAMIC VALUES WITHIN MULIYATUN N.’S “AKATSUKI”

Within the so many positive images of Japan produced and reproduced in Indonesia, there seems to be a convention to portray the relationship between Japanese culture and Islamic values as an oppositional one. This is evident in the depiction of the clash between the two in various stories of the Japanese Military Occupation Period in Indonesia, as well as in Indonesian Islamic literary works until the 2000s. However, through her Islamic-romantic novel “Akatsuki” (2009, 2012, 2017) Muliyatun N., by creating a story that entirely takes place in Japan and with all Japanese characters, depicts Japanese culture and Islamic values relations as non-oppositional and non-confrontational. This paper first describes the depiction of Japanese culture-Islamic values relations within “Akatsuki”. Furthermore, by considering contexts lingering the production of the novel, it analyzes how the “Akatsuki” marks the shift in Indonesian Muslim’s perception towards Japan in the decade of 2010s. My argument is that this shift is in line with the trends of creating a global and successful image of Muslims through literary works, and the recent development of the relationship between Japan and Islamic world.